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Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Democratic congressional candidate Conor Lamb is greeted by supporters during his election night rally in Pennsylvania’s 18th U.S. Congressional district special election against Republican candidate and State Rep. Rick Saccone, in Canonsburg.
“This is something that you’re not going to see repeated, because they didn’t have a primary. They were able to pick a candidate who could run as a conservative, who ran against the minority leader, who ran on a conservative agenda,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said earlier this month after Lamb’s win. Lamb did not run as a “conservative,” as he opposed major Ryan initiatives such as the GOP tax cuts and Obamacare repeal, but he certainly took centrist stances on some issues.
Along with Kelly, the House Democrats’ campaign arm has put its weight behind several candidates challenging Republican incumbents who share at least some qualities with Lamb. Of the 33 challengers getting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s, or DCCC’s, organizational and fundraising support as part of its “red to blue” effort, at least a dozen have some military or national security experience.
Democrats often try to run candidates with military or national security backgrounds to counter a GOP narrative that the party is weak on defense or crime, said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Democratic National Committee member. That experience is “particularly valuable” in swing districts where Democrats will need voters to cross ideological lines, she said.
Of course, many of those candidates will not mirror Lamb on issues such as abortion or gun rights. The districts they hope to represent have varying local priorities and ideological leanings that can lead to different policy platforms from Democrats. For instance, Lamb and Kelly have both courted steelworkers’ unions, which have a presence in their districts but not as big of a foothold in other Republican-held areas.
