17th District House race pits 'rising star' Conor Lamb against Trump-backed challenger Sean Parnell

Western Pennsylvania’s suburbs and working-class towns across much of the Alle-Kiski Valley and Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties will have their say Tuesday in a nationally watched match-up — whether to re-elect “rising star” Democrat U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.

In the battle for the House’s 17th Congressional District, Lamb, 36, is pitted against Trump-backed Republican challenger Sean Parnell, 39.

Lamb is a former federal prosecutor and Marine Corps officer from Mt. Lebanon who ascended to Congress by winning over Trump voters two years ago. Lamb beat two other Trump-backed candidates in back-to-back elections in 2018.

Parnell is a Murrysville native and former Army platoon leader in Afghanistan who moved from Cranberry to Ohio Township earlier this year.

The level of enthusiasm and fundraising power generated by the Parnell campaign have surprised some political observers — and led experts to rank the 17th District as among the most competitive House races in the nation.

Both Lamb and Parnell pitch themselves as moderates who will place the needs of their diverse mix of constituents above party loyalty.

“Western Pennsylvanians are a pretty independent-minded type of people,” Lamb said, “and so, as a result, it makes our state very competitive every four years.”

Shortly before his Republican National Convention speech aired, first-time political candidate Parnell told the Tribune-Review, “I’m running as a Republican, and I am a conservative, but I am less interested in the Republican answer or the Democratic answer. I think people really do want in Western Pennsylvania an independent, moderate voice of their region.”

The race has garnered widespread attention not only because of the two candidates’ high-profile endorsements and national air time, but also for being a potential bellwether election gauging President Trump’s ability to retain some of the critical voters who helped the Trump-Pence ticket clinch a narrow victory here in 2016.

Trump’s presence on the ballot — as opposed to the special and mid-term elections that secured Lamb’s seat in Congress — could prove a boost to Parnell if a higher proportion of Trump supporters turn out than did in 2018, political observers said.

“Part of the reason Conor Lamb won the last time was because some of the Trump voters stayed home,” said Jack Barlow, professor of politics at Juniata College in Huntingdon. “And so if the GOP can get them to turn out, then they at least have a fighting chance.”

Uphill battle to oust incumbent

Incumbents almost always have the upper hand in an election, particularly when they have no scandals or major criticisms to turn away supporters. Lamb has neither, which leads several political observers to predict a Lamb victory.

“I would bet on Lamb. Most of the election analysts are seeing him as the favorite,” said Jeff Gulati, political science professor at Bentley University in Massachusetts. “He’s the incumbent, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

But Parnell has been making a bigger splash than many expected.

Parnell’s campaign out-raised Lamb’s by $270,00 in the second quarter, with more than 8,000 individual donors. Third-quarter campaign finance reports filed Oct. 15 show that Parnell again out-raised the incumbent, raking in $1.6 million in donations to Lamb’s $1.2 million. Lamb’s campaign coffer reported $1.4 million in cash to Parnell’s $955,000.

By late September, the Cook Political Report changed its rating for the 17th District seat from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic,” meaning the race is competitive but Lamb has the advantage.

“At a time when most GOP challengers are struggling to gain traction and attention, retired Army Ranger Sean Parnell is a notable exception,” the Cook Political Report wrote. “The Fox News contributor and ‘Outlaw Platoon’ author has been singled out for support by the president and got a prime RNC speaking role, helping raise more than $1.5 million and keep pace with Lamb, a fellow veteran, on the Pittsburgh airwaves.”

Earlier this month, Politico’s forecast similarly rated the race leaning Democratic. RealClearPolitics now deems it a “toss-up,” along with 18 other Democratic House seats around the country.

“Conor Lamb was Democrats’ golden boy after winning a special election in 2018,” Politico wrote in its assessment of the 17th District election. “But his fundraising has trailed off a bit this cycle — especially considering he’s matched up against Fox News favorite Sean Parnell — and he’s still running in a district Donald Trump carried in 2016.”

The Parnell campaign — which has been aggressively door-to-door canvassing and spotlighting Parnell on the stage of Trump rallies in recent weeks and months — has expressed optimism that if Trump can win Pennsylvania again, then Parnell can beat Lamb.

Parnell did not respond to requests for an interview over the past two weeks.

During a rally outside Pittsburgh International Airport in Moon Township on Sept. 22, Trump called Parnell onto the stage, and Parnell arrived to a standing ovation and spoke briefly. Parnell introduced Vice President Mike Pence during his campaign rally in Beaver County earlier this month.

After his debate last month against Lamb hosted by Trib news partner WPXI-TV, Parnell told the Tribune- Review, “I’m feeling really good.”

“It’s crazy, I never thought ever in my life that I’d ever be on stage with the vice president or the president of the United States,” Parnell said. “So being up there with the vice president and with the president, really it’s the experience of a lifetime. And yeah, of course, it’s helped my campaign being right there with the heavy-hitters in the Republican Party.”

The pandemic has posed a strategic challenge for all campaigns, and particularly Democratic candidates fearful of contributing to the spread of covid-19.

But in recent weeks, volunteers in support of Lamb and Biden have begun door-to-door canvassing with masks; Lamb said his campaign did so at the request of people not working directly on his campaign.

“We had these groups telling us, ‘We are going canvassing. We’d like to carry your literature with us if we can,’ ” said Lamb, who attended a locally planned Biden caravan and rally last weekend at Harrison Hills Park. Lamb gave brief remarks at the event and answered questions from supporters as well as curious passersby who told him they weren’t sure who they’d be voting for.

Though in-person contact can yield big payoffs in typical elections, Lamb said he’s not too worried that the lack of visibility of Biden and other Democratic events, with most going virtual, will hamper voter turnout. More than 52 million Americans already cast their mail-in and absentee votes by last week, including more than 1.4 million Pennsylvanians voting by mail for the first time in a presidential election.

“If this were 2018, it would make a huge difference because we know in mid-term elections it’s harder to get people to come out,” Lamb said. “This year, we’re just going to have the largest turnout in American history … We know the election will be close, so at the margins it will matter. But there’s just going to be such a natural swell of turnout.”

Lamb was considered a longshot when he emerged as the Democratic nominee to run in the race to replace former U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, a Republican who resigned in October 2017 amid an extramarital scandal. Murphy had easily won eight elections and Donald Trump carried the district by 19 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, despite a Democratic voter registration edge of about 24,000.

On the issues

After he was elected, Lamb followed through on his pledge not to vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, along with 14 other Democrats.

But he riled some constituents when he asserted he would be voting in favor of impeaching Trump, who continues to label the congressman “Nancy’s Little Lamb” at rallies around the region.

“He’s a nice guy, he really is … but he sounded a lot on stage like he did in 2018, and that really didn’t reflect his evolution,” Parnell said after his televised debate against Lamb. “No one is more disappointed in Conor Lamb’s record than me.”

Lamb responds that roughly 80% of bills he supported had bipartisan backing, in particular legislation moved through the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on which he serves as vice chair.

“Almost every single bill that we’ve reported out has been bipartisan … including bills that (Trump) himself has signed,” Lamb said. “His signature says a lot more than words do at a political rally.”

The rival candidates share some priorities in common — including supporting fracking, unions and the protection of Medicare and Social Security. Both say they’re concerned about the federal debt.

“Republicans have had a complicated relationship with unions,” Parnell said. “I support their right to organize. I won’t support the right-to-work legislation in this region.”

Lamb said that if he wins reelection, among his top goals will be passing a comprehensive infrastructure package, including funding for roads, bridges, public transit and locks and dams. The infrastructure funding plan “should be one of the first bills that’s passed, and it should be bipartisan,” Lamb said.

Part of the goal is to create more jobs and investment in much-needed improvements, and “part is also showing the American people that it’s possible for the two sides in Washington to come together and do something really meaningful,” Lamb said. “We also need to restore people’s confidence, to show them that we’ve reached a turning point in Washington and we don’t want to be all partisan warfare all the time.”

He also wants Congress and federal leaders to do more to respond to the pandemic, including by enacting another relief package to help individuals and small businesses akin to the stimulus payments and Paycheck Protection Program distributed thus far. Lamb faults the Republican-controlled Senate with holding up another stimulus package.

“We absolutely do need it, we needed it several months ago,” Lamb said. “I’m just doing everything I can to get everybody at the table working on this. … We are trying to have an intelligent discussion about the way the government should play a role here, and spending our money wisely. … But if done right, it can really benefit people who need it.”

Lamb also wants to secure more protective equipment for health professionals and increase and improve testing. Lamb said the U.S. is testing less than 1 million people per day when it should be processing closer to 4 million daily tests.

“We have been demanding from Congress a national testing strategy,” Lamb said. “If this was World War II, Gen. Marshall wouldn’t just sit around and say, ‘Oh, well, I hope we get more tanks.’ He’d work with producers and say, ‘You’ll build this number of tanks by this deadline and if you don’t you’re going to lose our business, and we’ll go somewhere else because we’ve got a war to win.”

Parnell has emphasized how his military experience taught him how to lead and work with diverse groups of people. His top priorities include strengthening the military, creating jobs through deregulation and driving down health care costs through increased competition.

The pair have sparred over the Trump administration’s push to gut the Affordable Care Act.

“I’m not saying they have a bad plan: I’m saying they have no plan,” said Lamb, whose political ads accuse Parnell of supporting taking away protections for preexisting conditions and revoking benefits the ACA provides to seniors and millions of people who rely on federally subsidized health plans.

As a Army combat survivor with his own preexisting conditions and family who’ve battled cancer, Parnell has countered that he supports legislation that “would preserve the more popular aspects of the Affordable Care Act, like letting someone stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they’re 26 and always protecting people with preexisting conditions.”

“I also like the idea of opening up competition and letting insurance companies compete across state lines,” Parnell said. “More choice leads to better health care.”

RELATED: Rep. Conor Lamb, GOP challenger Sean Parnell spar over ACA, civil unrest in WPXI debate