Stating that "these are serious times," Congressman Conor Lamb has announced that he will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Lamb, 37, is viewed by many as a serious candidate, but the path to winning his Democratic Party's endorsement, and then winning the actual Senate seat, will be a hard slog.
The ex-Marine reckons he is up to the task.
Lamb won re-election to the House of Representatives in his Western Pennsylvania district, the state's 17th, last time he faced voters. That was in November, 2020.
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported at the time that "Mr. Lamb, a 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former federal prosecutor, swept into office two years ago during a surge of progressive energy following Mr. Trump’s 2016 election.
"Mr. Lamb flipped a Republican-held seat by a razor-thin margin in a special election in March 2018, then coasted to a 12-point victory that November in the 17th District, which had been favorably redrawn for Democrats after a gerrymandering challenge. Democrats took control of the House of Representatives that year.
"Mr. Lamb’s seat was a major target in Republicans’ mission to take back control of the House in 2020. As early as February 2019, the National Republican Congressional Committee listed the 17th District among the U.S. House seats it believed it could flip into GOP hands this year."
Lamb held his ground. Now he is looking to expand that ground across the Keystone State. In his campaign he will be looking for support from the Biden White House.
As noted by the Post Gazette, Lamb was an early and vocal supporter of Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign.
"Mr. Biden even stumped for Mr. Lamb in March 2018, during the special election campaign, saying Mr. Lamb 'reminds me of my son Beau,' the Delaware attorney general who died of cancer in 2015.
"Mr. Lamb was a key surrogate for the Biden campaign in Western Pennsylvania, serving as one of nine members of a panel that wrote the candidate’s climate change platform. As Mr. Trump and other Republicans sought to argue Mr. Biden supported a ban on fracking, Mr. Lamb would repeatedly point out that was a false claim."
Lamb also took part in a pre-election Pittsburgh-based "Zoom Rally" for Joe Biden.
Lamb’s Irish roots mostly go back to counties Galway and Mayo. He captained the Pittsburgh Celtics Gaelic Football Club from 2006 to 2008.
He has made several visits to Ireland, including a University of Pennsylvania rugby team tour. His uncle, Jim Lamb, is president of the Irish Institute of Pittsburgh and Honorary Irish Consul in the city.
