The battle between Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Connor Lamb for Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district turned from Tuesday into Wednesday with no official winner. The race is too close to call, with just a few hundred votes separating the two.
If he doesn’t win, Saccone plans to submit petitions on March 20 to run in the 14th congressional district, a political consultant for the campaign tells CBS News’ Nicole Sganga.
The holdup is thousands of absentee ballots that have yet to be counted. The results are anticipated to roll in Wednesday.
The closeness of the race prompted a visit from President Trump on Saturday. Republicans hoped the president’s appearance would help turn out the vote, and avoid an embarrassment in a district Mr. Trump won by 20 points in 2016.
Saccone sent supporters home for the night, while Lamb essentially declared victory.
“It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it!” he said.
“You did it!” he added.
“I see so many great friends out here,” Lamb continued. “You know four months ago right after we won the Democratic nomination, before we ever even had a chance to open an office, the grassroots leaders that are in this room tonight came to us and they said, print us something, print anything so we can get out there and start canvassing – they said get going they said or we’re going without you – well, we went together and I can’t thank you enough.”
Saccone’s lackluster fundraising — Lamb’s campaign has out-raised him by nearly 5-1 in the first seven weeks of 2018 — concerned his party. Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former prosecutor, has raised most of his cash from his own campaign, while Saccone has had to look to outside groups.
