Jewish Groups That Helped Democrat Win In Pennsylvania Cheer His Upset Victory
Supporters of Democrat Conor Lamb after the March 13 Pennsylvania special election Image by Getty Images
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Liberal Jewish groups hailed the upset victory of a Democratic congressional candidate in a special election in a Pennsylvania district that President Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2016.
Conor Lamb, a former U.S. Marine and prosecutor who rejected the Democratic establishment in his campaign — but ran on a traditional Democratic platform of opposing tax cuts and preserving social safety nets — eked out a win Tuesday in Pittsburgh’s exurbs.
Lamb, 33, defeated Rick Saccone, a representative in the state House, by 627 votes. There are an estimated 11,000 Jews in the 18th District, which has an overall population of 710,000.
With a margin so thin, Jewish groups that had campaigned for Lamb were quick to say their contributions helped make the difference.
“We’re still flying high from Conor Lamb’s victory on Tuesday,” said J Street PAC, the political action committee affiliated with the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, in a fundraising email for another J Street-backed candidate in Illinois, Marie Newman.
J Street PAC endorsed Lamb on Jan. 31 and raised $60,000 for him from more than 225 donors.
The Pittsburgh branch of Bend the Arc, a Jewish social action group, set up a phone bank and knocked on doors to get out the vote for Lamb, a spokesman said. The Jewish Democratic Council of America ran an ad in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and an op-ed by one of its board members.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
