Lamb rejects suggestion that Pennsylvania special election was about Trump

Democrat Conor Lamb rejects the idea that his strong showing in the Pennsylvania special election is a referendum on President Donald Trump, who won the district by 20 percentage points in 2016.

“Do you think that your — this very close race and what appears to be your narrow victory — do you think it says something about Donald Trump?” CNN’s “New Day” co-anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Lamb during an interview Wednesday morning.

“Not really, other than to say that there are plenty of people here who are still pretty supportive of him,” Lamb said, acknowledging that Trump “is a popular person” in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.

“Everyone gave me a fair shake. And I know that there were people that voted for the President who also voted for me,” Lamb said.

Lamb holds a slight lead over his Republican opponent, Rick Saccone, with 100% of the Election Day vote tallied, but absentee and provisional ballots are still being counted. Lamb declared victory in a speech to his supporters Tuesday night although Saccone has not conceded the race.

Lamb’s performance is ominous for Republicans as the November midterm elections approach. Trump endorsed Saccone and stumped for him in western Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

Asked about Trump’s attack against him as “Lamb the sham” and remarks about his appearance, Lamb said, “Apart from that, there was a lot of foolishness in this election and a lot of really cartoonish campaigning.”

“I think by the time of the President’s visit last weekend, people were kind of tired of that entire approach,” Lamb said Wednesday.

However, both candidates could find themselves on the ballot again in November due to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court-redrawn congressional district map.

Lamb said Wednesday he will not immediately hit the campaign trail once the special election is over.

“I plan to spend the rest of this year fully representing the people of this district, fulfilling the promise that I made. We’ll let the rest of it shake out,” he said.