The Pennsylvania special election is pure madness

Special elections are expensive and redundant. Enough already!

Campaign signs.
(Image credit: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

All the political world's eyes will turn this Tuesday to southwestern Pennsylvania and the special election between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone for a House seat vacated by a scandal-ridden GOP congressman. Since every seat matters and there are only a few contests happening at the moment, an absurd amount of money has poured into the district; as of last Monday, nearly $12 million had been spent on ads that are no doubt driving residents batty. Things have gotten so intense that as Lamb seemed to pull even in this district President Trump won by 20 points, Republicans started berating their own candidate to reporters in order to get a head start on the post-voting spin.

When the results are in, endless hot takes will be written about What It Means. If Lamb wins, it will show that Democrats are headed for a wave that will sweep the House into their control. If Saccone holds on, it will show that Republicans might have a chance to stave off disaster.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.