Whether organized labor and other backers of Democrat Conor Lamb can turn out votes for their man Tuesday, or whether the Republican organization can turn out the same voters who gave President Donald Trump a resounding sweep of Pennsylvania's 18th District for GOP hopeful Rick Saccone — that is what will determine who wins the special election Tuesday night.
That was the conclusion of various sources in the Keystone State hours before the polls.
"There are three counties in the district — Washington, Westmoreland, and Greene Counties — and about 40 percent of Allegheny County [suburban Pittsburgh]," G. Terry Madonna, Franklin and Marshall University professor, told Newsmax. "And if the turnout is big in the first three, Saccone can pull it off."
But Madonna, considered the premier political pollster in Pennsylvania, quickly added "college-educated, Republican women in Allegheny are upset with Trump for a lot of reasons. If they turn out in big numbers, Saccone has problems and Lamb can win."
Former Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., who represented the neighboring district from 2000-'06, said "here in Western Pennsylvania, there are people who hate Trump and will turn out. And there are people who love him, and they'll turn out."
Hart predicted the winner would be "Saccone, by a hair."
Outside his office in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Democratic State Rep. Dan Miller told me "Conor [Lamb] is from right here — in fact, he lives in his grandparents' home right down the street. He's a strong Catholic, a Marine Corps veteran, and a prosecutor who understands the threat of opiod drugs."
Miller added Lamb also ran as a supporter of Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs.
"If we turn out the support that is here for him," he said, "He'll win."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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