Conor Lamb Supporting Super PAC Poll Shows John Fetterman Leading PA Senate Primary By 30

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:17 pm

A poll from a super PAC supporting Rep. Conor Lamb in the PA Democratic Senate primary shows Lt. Gov. John Fetterman leading by 30 points.

Conor Lamb Supporters Warn That John Fetterman Is Leading Big

Via: Politico:

A super PAC backing Pennsylvania Senate candidate Conor Lamb is warning prospective donors that he is trailing frontrunner John Fetterman by 30 percentage points in the Democratic primary — and that the public’s perception of his opponent’s ideology must change for Lamb to have a shot.

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“[P]rimary voters don’t yet see Fetterman as the liberal he is,” reads a memo circulated by the pro-Lamb group Penn Progress, which was obtained by POLITICO. “For Conor Lamb to have a path in the primary, this dynamic needs to change.”

John Fetterman Is Very Popular With Pennsylvania Democrats

The Lamb supporters appear to be neglecting the fact that Lt. Gov. Fetterman is very popular with Democrats in the state. The concern among some in the PA Democratic Party has been that Fetterman is too far to the left to win in Pennsylvania, where voters tend to favor moderates.

The problem for Lamb is that he might be a better general election candidate than a primary candidate.

As a Western Pennsylvanian, I can personally attest to Fetterman’s popularity, and he stands a good chance of being able to cut into support for the Republican nominee in the western red rural areas of the state.

There are a lot of Fetterman signs, bumper stickers, and t-shirts in areas of Pennsylvania that Trump won in 2016 and 2020. Fetterman won’t win in these heavily Republican areas, but as Joe Biden showed in 2020, the name of the game for Democrats in Pennsylvania is to improve by a few points in the red parts of the state and perform well in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions.

Pulling from the Fox News playbook to try to turn Fetterman into Bernie Sanders could backfire and push Democratic primary voters away from Lamb.

The party elite may not like it, but John Fetterman is going to be tough to beat in the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association