The so-called blue wave swept through the 18th Congressional District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, where Democratic candidate Conor Lamb appears to have won in a major upset in a district President Donald Trump carried in 2016 by 20 points.
If the election is officially called in Lamb's favor, it would give the Democrats a huge victory and a strong sense of optimism as the 2018 midterms approach.
A remarkable aspect of Lamb's victory was that he had a clear campaign message and put an emphasis on his promise to save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security from the cuts that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has promised. The strategy paid off in the end for Lamb, a young former Marine, who vastly outshined his opponent, as the blue-collar district that had voted Republican for so long in recent years got back in touch with its roots.
Ryan, however, has downplayed the race and slammed Lamb's Republican opponent Rep. Rick Saccone.
"In order to win in a tough environment we need good candidates who run strong campaigns," Ryan said, according to USA Today. "The Rick Saccone campaign was a joke. If we had even a serviceable candidate in this race, it would have been easy."
Looking towards November, the Democrats seem to have plenty to be excited about.
The tight race came even after Trump rallied in Pennsylvania on Saturday night, where he mainly focused on himself and branded the Democrat as "Lamb the sham." But it didn't have the impact the president hoped, and just days later Lamb edged out Saccone in the polls.
Twitter exploded on Tuesday night and the energy poured into Wednesday morning as many have begun to feel the Democratic "blue wave" that has reached through several states in recent months.
Conor Lamb is an example of what happens when even people with Republican ideologies are fed of with the President of the United States not being held accountable!
This is the start of a #bluewave and the beginning of Trump’s ultimate demise! #PA18
It’s glorious!
— Ed Krassenstein 💎 (@EdKrassen) March 14, 2018
Some immediately did mental gymnastics in an attempt to spin the election loss as a win for Trump.
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