Democrats stand a chance at flipping Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District from red to blue this week because they nominated a competitive candidate.
On abortion and guns in particular, nominee Conor Lamb departs from his party’s hard line approach, boosting his appeal in a district President Trump won by almost 20 points. He’s just the kind of Democrat some progressives would purge from the party.
And that’s a debate with implications beyond point-scoring on social media. As the midterm cycle heats up, party appendages like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are confronting a serious dilemma. Favor candidates like Lamb in competitive red districts at risk of infuriating progressives and depressing turnout in November, or stay on the sidelines at risk of allowing the base to nominate candidates with little appeal in general elections.
These are the calculations DCCC officials weighed before wading into the primary for Texas’s 7th Congressional District recently, attempting to tip the scales against a candidate they saw as less electable in November. The move outraged progressives, setting off another battle in the party’s larger war over ideological purity.
Should Lamb prevail, the Democratic establishment will be able to exploit his case study in the furtherance of their argument it’s better to boost a centrist who may occasionally take undesirable floor votes than nominate a progressive with no serious chance of defeating the GOP. A loss for Lamb specifically may not give progressives much to work with, but they contend in general the party doesn’t need centrists to win in places like the Rust Belt.
Lamb wasn’t nominated via primary, but rather on the second ballot at a party convention held in late November after former Republican Rep. Tim Murphy was forced to resign in the wake of a sex scandal.
But could a solid progressive candidate — think someone in the mold of failed Missouri Senate candidate Jason Kander — be running such a competitive race right now in Pennsylvania’s 18th?
With all eyes on Tuesday’s special election, that’s a question well-worth the consideration of party stakeholders.
