Why Pennsylvania's Special Election Could Swing Blue
The historically Republican District 18 of Pennsylvania could swing blue in Tuesday’s special election, according to Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor at political website Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Democratic candidate Conor Lamb is “a good fit culturally for the district,” he told Cheddar, citing Lamb’s military background and moderate views on issues like abortion and guns.
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Rick Saccone “is a standard economic conservative,” said Kondik, which doesn’t necessarily sit well with the largely blue-collar residents of the district.
The race in the 18th District is shaping up as a potential bellwether for the midterm elections in November. President Trump carried the district by 20 points in 2016, and a Democratic win there would be a huge blow to him and to the GOP.
As a sign of how critical the party and the White House view the race, Trump will travel to the district on Saturday for a Saccone campaign rally. Friday afternoon, the president tweeted: Look forward to being in Pennsylvania tomorrow in support of Rick @Saccone4PA18. Big crowd expected in Moon Township. Vote Rick and see you there! #MAGA
Several weeks ago, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter campaigned with Saccone, and on Monday, Donald Trump Jr. will campaign with the Republican.
To regain control of the house, Democrats need to win 24 seats now held by the GOP. And many political experts believe the party has a good chance, particularly given the historic tendency of the party that controls the White House to lose seats in Congress during the midterms.
“Generally, the party that holds the White House pays a penalty down the ballot, particularly in special elections like we’re seeing in Pennsylvania on Tuesday,” Kondik said.
“Turnout is always significantly lower than a presidential election,” explained Kondik. “The out-party is sometimes more motivated to show up to vote.” On top of that, President Trump’s overall approval rating is hovering at a meager 40 percent.
Kondik also pointed out that the district, largely composed of the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh, has a demographic makeup that veers from Trump’s base.
Voters generally have higher-than-average incomes and higher-than-average educational attainment. “It’s a Trump district, but it’s also full of voters who are sort of skeptical of Trump even though they voted for him.”
The special election was called after Rep. Patrick Murphy resigned amid reports that he had encouraged his lover to have an abortion despite his strong anti-abortion stance.
“It’s a true toss up, which is kind of crazy in and of itself,” said Kondik.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/pennsylvanias-special-election-gives-pollsters-a-sneak-peak-into-the-2018-midterms).
As of March 2022, almost 200 Anti-LGBT+ bills have been introduced in state governments across the country — especially directed at the transgender community. Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley joined Cheddar News to discuss the deluge of legislation. "Unfortunately we are seeing these bills come at transgender youth from every conceivable direction," she said. "Every support that a trans kid has, whether that's their parents, whether that's their family, whether that's their teachers or their guidance counselors or their coaches, whether it's their teammates or the librarians and the books that they read, whether it's curriculum, whether it's even just the ability to acknowledge that LGBTQ people have existed throughout history and are important in the fabric of modern American society. The bills that we are seeing filed across the country are targeting all of those pieces."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week seemed to have put out a video that urged Ukrainians to put down their arms and surrender to Russia. It was later revealed that it was a “deepfake,” a computer-generated video to mimic the Ukrainian leader. Cheddar News speaks with security expert Morgan Wright about how the technology is being used in the war in Ukraine.
After scrutiny over the negative impact on the mental health of children, social media apps have begun adding stricter limitations to parental controls. Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization focusing on recommendations for entertainment platforms, joined Cheddar News to talk about the changes, why they might not be enough, and what parents can do to help. "It's almost that the companies — whether they're Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, or whatever — have to start the process from the beginning of designing the product," he said. "They have to be much more clear about age verification so that a 12-year-old and 11-year-old can't get on there." Steyer also pushed for federal legislation to reign in the issue.
As Big Tech companies from the U.S. like Google and Apple managed to build market dominance overseas, the European Union has decided to curb what it sees as monopolistic growth. Greg Martin, the co-founder of Rainmaker Securities, joined Cheddar News to talk about how the impact of the antitrust regulations being adopted. "I think there's a lot of great outcomes here, but those will be far down the road [because] I do think there's some interoperability things that need to be worked out technologically," he said. "But it's going to be really good ultimately for the consumer in my opinion."
Tenicka Boyd is a digital creator making content that reflects her two passions: activism and style. The TikTok star joined Cheddar News to talk about her platform and new looks this Spring. Boyd admitted that at first she wanted to remain anonymous on the social media platform before finding her passion. "I just joined TikTok hoping that no one would find me, and I started creating colorful content," she said. "I didn't know that you could monetize this and really do it full time, and I just followed my passion because I realized that you can have multiple different lives and do multiple different things."
Catching you up on what you need to know on March 25, 2022, with Ukrainian forces retaking Kyiv, 300 deaths reported from the bombing of a theater used as a shelter in Mariupol, U.S. regulators ditch a climate review of natural gas projects, the 94th Academy Awards, and more.
North Korea says it test-fired its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile under the orders of leader Kim Jong Un, who vowed to continue expanding his nuclear arsenal while preparing for a “long-standing confrontation” with the United States.
Ukrainian authorities in the besieged ruins of Mariupol say that about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike blew up a theater where hundreds of civilians were sheltering.
