Rep. Joe Kennedy on Why Penn.'s Special Election May Swing Blue
Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) thinks that Democrats will turn a long-red part of Pennsylvania blue on Tuesday.
“I look forward to calling Conor [Lamb] a colleague in about a week when he gets sworn in,” the Massachusetts Congressman told Cheddar in a recent interview.
The showdown for Pennsylvania’s District 18 U.S. House seat is between Lamb, an attorney and former United States Marine, and Republican Rick Saccone, who currently serves in the state legislature. The candidates are vying to fill the seat left vacant by Rep. Tim Murphy, who stepped down amid an extramarital affair scandal last fall.
The GOP has held the seat since 2002, and in the 2016 presidential race Donald Trump won the district by 20 points. But this special election is shaping up to be much closer. A Monmouth University [poll](https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_pa_031218/) released Monday showed Lamb had a lead over Saccone in three different turnout models.
Republicans, who’ve dumped about $8 million into the Saccone campaign compared to the less than $400,000 Democrats gave Lamb, are hoping to avoid an outcome like Roy Moore’s failed Senate run in Alabama last year.
And Kennedy said that if Lamb wins, it could send the opposing party a big message.
“It’s undoubtedly a warning sign for the presidency and for President Trump specifically,” he said. “I think it’s showing that there’s an awful lot of Americans out there that are recognizing the way that a Republican-led Congress is leading the country is not reflective of their values or visions or what they think is right.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/all-eyes-on-close-pa-special-election).
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday testified before the House that the government is ready to step in with more help for bank depositors if necessary
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a plan to overhaul the nation's organ transplant system, which has long been plagued by sometimes lethal delays and IT failures.
California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector where they hold key roles.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ' administration is moving to forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the controversial law critics call “Don't Say Gay” as the Republican governor continues to focus on cultural issues ahead of his expected presidential run.
Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday in a high-stakes hearing on the future of the popular, Chinese-owned video sharing platform in the U.S.
The pay is a driving factor behind a three-day strike that has shut down the entire Los Angeles school system and put a spotlight on the paltry pay of support staff that serves as the backbone of schools nationwide.
Musician Bruce Springsteen, actress Mindy Kaling and designer, Vera Wang were some of the celebrities honored at the White House on Tuesday. President Biden and his wife Dr Jill Biden gave honorees medals. Other honorees included Gladys Knight, Julia Louis Dreyfus and Amy Tan. The medals are Biden's first batch of awards for the arts and humanities. They were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
