Mar 14, 2018 6 min read

Clinging to a lead as slender as a strand of yarn, Democrat Conor Lamb was ahead of Rick Saccone by 847 votes with a count of absentee ballots in Washington and Westmoreland counties underway, according to totals from the Pennsylvania Department of State website.

The night stretched on as an early Lamb lead from Allegheny County dwindled as results from Washington and Westmoreland counties were counted.

Saccone’s supporters erupted in cheers at 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Youghiogheny Country Club in the candidate’s home community when the Republican pulled within 700 votes of Democrat Conor Lamb with returns from 563 of 593 precincts.

“We’re gonna keep fighting. Don’t give up, we’ll keep it up,” Saccone said late Tuesday addressing his supporters.

Fox News was on the TV screens while the song, “Eye of the Tiger” played and the crowd chanted, “Let’s go Rick” and “USA! USA!”

The heat was on at the Lamb gathering, when the roomful saw Lamb open a substantial lead largely on the strength of returns from Allegheny County.

They managed to stay positive, but booed at former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, now a Republican pundit on CNN, when he appeared on a large screen as returns reflected rural areas in Westmoreland and Washington counties.

Lamb supporters utttered expressions of disappointment and disgust as the final Washington County results came in, cutting Lamb’s lead at that point to less then 100 votes with Allegheny County absentee ballots still being counted.

Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr said earlier this week that Washington County had received 1,190 absentee ballots, and were working to tabulate them late Tuesday. Westmoreland County officials were also working to tabulate the ballots there.

In Greene County, there are 203 absentee ballots that will be counted Wednesday.

Tuesday’s voting followed two appearances by Trump – the last of which was Saturday – and that of Vice President Mike Pence in support of Saccone.

Stumping for Lamb, meanwhile, was former Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Joe Kennedy III.

Greene County, atop coal seams, came out heavily for Trump in 2016, and the president’s coattails are still significant. Saccone consistently led 60 percent to 38 percent election night despite a United Mine Workers’ rally Sunday at the fairgrounds.

Unofficial results from all 22 Greene precincts in the 18th Congressional District gave Lamb a slight boost. Saccone had 2,694 to Lamb’s 1,927, translating to 57.7 percent for the Republican and 41.3 percent for Lamb.

Libertarian Drew Gray Miller of Pittsburgh, who campaigned mainly among high school and college students, trailed with just 42 votes, less than 1 percent.

All three candidates live in Allegheny County, where Lamb took an early lead in Pittsburgh’s South Hills suburbs.

At the Youghiogheny Country Club, Saccone headquarters, a supporter’s spirits were not dampened by early returns.

“I really feel Rick is going to win,” said Greg Criss of South Park, Allegheny County. “I feel different people are pulling together for him, unions, people of different backgrounds.”

Asked if this election was a reflection of people’s feelings about the president, John DeLallo, Allegheny County’s coordinator for Firearms Owners Against Crime, said, “I sure hope the voters in the counties Rick will represent are smarter than to allow this to be referendum on President Trump, and it should be a vote on Rick’s qualifications.”

Criss opined of the chief executive, “It definitely helped. I think you couldn’t have a better person to back you than the president of the United States.

In Greene County, all precincts reported with Saccone at 2,694 (57 percent) votes to Lamb’s 1,927 (41 percent).

At Lamb’s campaign gathering at the Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe, Julie Chiem of Upper St. Clair said, “I wish it were a way bigger lead, to tell people, no, what’s going on in our country right now is not okay. But I’m feeling good about this race.

“I really like that he’s young, and I’m very similar to him in that I’m personally pro-life, but I feel that people should be able to choose what’s right and wrong.

“I’m not OK with the old, authoritarian people in the government right now.”

Thirty-something Mujib Rahman of Peters Township said, “We need Conor Lamb. We need a new direction for the country. We need a young leader who can show us a light toward the future, and that’s what we’re hoping for tonight.

“All the young people are looking for a new direction for the country.”

One of them will take the seat in the 18th Congressional District succeeding Tim Murphy who resigned his reliably Republican seat in October amid an adultery scandal.

Had it not been for the extra-marital dalliance that included a pregnancy scare with the anti-abortion Congressman urging his mistress to seek an abortion, Murphy would likely be filing for a ninth, two-year term.

Saccone was able to chip away at Lamb’s surge when returns came in from Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Tuesday’s election was to fill Murphy’s unexpired term, which would have lasted through the end of this year.

March 20 is the filing deadline for congressional candidates in Pennsylvania who plan to run in the May 15 primary.

In an interview with the Observer-Reporter, Saccone said even though he’ll live outside the newly-configured 14th District, which takes up much of the current 18th, he’s inclined to run in this area.

Should the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s map withstand a court challege, Saccone’s home will lie within a new 18th District that includes Pittsburgh, now represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle.

Mt. Lebanon, Lamb’s home community, is, under the state Supreme Court’s map, part of the 17th Congressional District, home to Republican U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus.

A Congressional candidate who meets legal requirements of the office does not have to reside in the district in which he or she runs.

It was four months ago, on Veterans Day, that Saccone, an Air Force veteran with a background in counterintelligence won the GOP nomination for the special election at the Southpointe Golf Club.

Those who went to the polls had to contend, at times, with snow squalls, not unknown in November elections, but certainly rare in this neck of the woods in the more typically-timed contests of April and May primaries.

Pat Herald, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, which also happens to be in Moon Township, part of the 18th Congressional District, said Tuesday’s snow was due to “a big upper low pressure system that’s centered over Lake Erie. It destabilized the atmosphere locally, which is why we’re having these shower-type snows scattered around all day long over the entire upper Ohio region.

“Any measurable accumulation would be minimal in the Congressional district” through Thursday, when the meteorologist expects the pattern to alleviate.

Daytime highs in the mid-30s provided little comfort to those giving out hand cards outside polling places, but sunny intervals allowed the snow to melt rather than pile up.

Staff writers Harry Funk and Karen Mansfield contributed to this report.