Voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District went to the polls Tuesday in a closely watched special election. The district was once held by Rick Santorum. It voted for Donald Trump by 20 points and has been held by the Republican Party for the past 15 years. This should have been a slam dunk for the GOP.

Absentee ballots are still being counted. But as of this writing, Democrat Connor Lamb is clinging to 49.8% to 49.6% lead and appears to be the winner. 

President Trump went into the district several days ago as polling showed Lamb pulling away by as much as six points. It appears the president’s visit helped, but it wasn’t enough.

Lamb is a former Marine and a former federal prosecutor. Lamb says he is personally against abortion and supports the Second Amendment right to own a firearm. He also said he supported the president’s tariffs on foreign steel. 

On MSNBC Wednesday morning, Lamb repeated his call for Nancy Pelosi to step aside as House Minority Leader. So this was not a case of a Bernie Sanders/Hillary Clinton progressive defeating a conservative Republican. Perhaps Democrats learned something from last year’s high-profile loss in Georgia by progressive Jon Ossoff. 

Nonetheless, the mainstream media are crowing. The resistance is cheering. And Republican insiders in Washington are privately worried about holding the House in November.

They should be worried. After Tuesday night’s apparent loss, Democrats need to win only 23 seats to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House. Twenty-three Republicans represent districts that Hillary Clinton won. And if Democrats can flip a Trump district like this one, then scores of GOP House seats could well be vulnerable.

Good News

There has been a lot of fallout from Hillary Clinton’s latest attack on Middle America. Many former aides and surrogates are begging her to knock it off. 

The Republican Party should seize the opportunity. The good news about the 2018 political landscape is that we have an excellent opportunity to expand our majority in the Senate. 

Conservative candidates in Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia (all states Donald Trump won by double digits) should be demanding that their Democrat opponents denounce Hillary Clinton’s continuing attack on religious liberty, our families and our country. I hope Republicans realize that they won’t win these elections on tax cuts alone.

My friends, I cannot overemphasize the urgency of maintaining control of the Senate. Control of the courts is at stake. We must have a Republican majority to confirm President Trump’s conservative judges.

Denouncing Farrakhan

As we have reported, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan recently delivered a disgusting anti-Semitic speech. His address was attended by the co-president of the progressive Women’s March movement, and there has been increased scrutiny of politicians who associate with Farrakhan. 

I am pleased to report that Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) introduced a resolution Tuesday calling upon the House of Representatives to denounce Louis Farrakhan “for promoting ideas that create animosity and anger toward Jewish Americans and the Jewish religion." 

In a report last week, I included several quotes from Farrakhan about "Satanic Jews” and his belief that Israel carried out the 9/11 attacks. Members of Congress would be right to denounce this bigot, and it wouldn’t be the first time. In 1994, the House voted 361 to 34 to condemn Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism.

Take Action: Call your representative at 202-224-3121. Demand that they denounce anti-Semitism by co-sponsoring House Resolution 772.