***Live Updates*** Rick Saccone v. Conor Lamb in PA-18 Special Election

rick-saccone-conor-lamb Pennsylvania special election candidates opponents
Jeff SwensenGetty Images/Conor Lamb for Congress

Democrat Conor Lamb takes on Republican Rick Saccone tonight in the last significant special election before the midterms in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.

President Donald Trump, who campaigned for Saccone on Saturday, won the district, which will not exist after this election, by nearly 20 points. But the race is a tossup, with Lamb actually slightly ahead of Saccone in the last batch of polls before election night. Lamb has run away from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and has rarely criticized Trump, making sure he isn’t the left-wing elite’s flavor of the month like Georgia’s Jon Ossoff.

The election is being held to replace former Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), who had to resign in disgrace after reports that he encouraged a woman with whom he had an affair to have an abortion.

If Lamb wins, Democrats and the legacy media will giddily advance the narrative that the election was a referendum on Trump. But Trump’s visit to California and his firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could bigfoot tonight’s election results in the Keystone State.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates throughout the evening. Polls close at 8 PM. All times eastern. Election results here. 

12:45: Lamb declares victory, says, “It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it.”

12: 05 AM: NRCC ‘Confident’ Saccone will win.

11:45 PM: DCCC claiming victory before all votes are counted.

11:40 PM:

11:20 PM: Larry Spahr, Washington County’s director of elections, says on CNN that they will count 1,195 absentee ballots tonight and it will take a couple hours to report the results.

11:05: In Allegheny, Lamb got 752 more absentee votes than Saccone. He now leads by 847 votes.

10:56 PM: Lamb is leading by 95 votes.

10:40 PM:

10:30 PM: Washington County counting absentee ballots in the morning.

10:25 PM: Optimism at Saccone party. If he pulls it out, credit Trump for helping get out the vote.

10:15 PM: On CNN, Joe Trippi, the underrated Dem. strategist, points out that Lamb is the first Dem. candidate this election cycle who has won over white working-class men. The problem, though, is that the Dem. electorate is so far to the left that it’s extremely tough for a candidate like Lamb to be nominated in order for the party to make inroads with the so-called Reagan Democrats.

10:00 PM: Nearly 4,000 absentee ballots expected to be counted by midnight in Allegheny County.

9:50 PM: Lamb 49.9%, Saccone 49.5.% Lamb leads by 700 votes with 94% of the vote in PA-18.

9:15 PM: Lamb 54%, Saccone 46% with 47% of the vote in so far.

9:05 PM: The infamous New York Times election needle still has the race as a tossup.

8:45 PM: CNN and MSNBC, so excited to set the narrative that this special election could be a “referendum” on Trump, are giving the race special coverage even though the district will not exist because of redistricting after this election.

8:35: DNC Chair Tom Perez dodged questions on CNN about whether he would encourage other Democrats to run away from Pelosi like Lamb did.

8:20 PM: Scene at Saccone watch party:

8:10 PM: Rick Santorum, who used to represent the district, points out that Lamb could win the election because he did not have to run in a primary. He says the problem Democrats have is that candidates like Lamb will not be able to win primaries dominated by left-wing “Resistance” voters.

8:05 PM: GOP operatives rushing to tell their legacy media friends that they expect Saccone to lose. Of course, it’s always the candidate’s fault when things look back and never the fault of the permanent political hacks.

8:00 PM: Polls are closed.

7:50 PM: Union voters are expected to make up one in five voters in the district. Both Lamb and Saccone supported President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.

7:45 PM: Former Obama adviser Axelrod also suggesting a potential Lamb victory may not dominate the news cycle tomorrow:

Could the weather impact the election?

Saccone’s closing argument:

Saccone told voters that he will be Trump’s wingman on the economy while “far-left” Lamb is trying to “disguise” himself as a moderate just to win the election, which is the case Trump made on Saturday. Saccone also told voters that liberal Democrats are energized by their hatred of Trump, God, and the country.

“They say the other side is energized. Let me tell you, they’re energized for hate for our president. They have a hatred for our president,” Saccone told voters. “I’ve talked to so many of these on the left, and they have a hatred for our president. And I tell you, many of them have a hatred for our country. I’ll tell you some more — my wife and I saw it again today: They have a hatred for God. It’s amazing. You see it when I’m talking to them. It’s disturbing to me.”

7:35 PM: Democrats are hoping a Lamb win excite the party’s base across the country.

7:30 PM: Trump hoping he can push Saccone across the finish line.

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