Weighing Senate run, Lamb is voting the party line more often
WASHINGTON — Last month, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-17th, voted to repeal the 2002 military authorization for the Iraq War after opposing it two years ago. It was the latest example of his increasing willingness to vote with his party as he weighs a Senate run.
All eyes are on Lamb as the Senate primary field takes shape, with fellow Democratic Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-6th, and Madeleine Dean, D-4th, announcing they will not run. Contested primaries are expected in both parties for retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's, R-Pa., seat.
As a Marine veteran and former prosecutor, one of Lamb's selling points is his record of winning competitive races by wooing voters from both parties.
Since he won a March 2018 special election that foreshadowed the blue wave that helped Democrats win House control, part of Lamb's appeal in his district has been his willingness to work across the aisle. But data tracked by CQ Roll Call shows that Lamb has become more likely to vote with a majority of Democrats on votes that split the parties, although he still occasionally breaks ranks.
After pulling off an upset in a district former President Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2016, Lamb became one of the lawmakers most likely to split with party leadership.In 2018, his votes aligned with Democratic leadership 77% of the time, according to CQ Vote Watch. The party unity score for the average House Democrat that year was 94%.Lamb's score grew to 92% in 2019, then dipped to 83% in 2020. But so far this year, he has voted with a majority of Democrats 99% of the time. Lamb's campaign and congressional office did not respond to requests for comment on his voting record.Democratic strategists said the shift could be a sign that Lamb is positioning for a statewide run, when he would have to appeal more to the party's liberal base. But they cautioned it could also be a reflection of his competitive House district, a deepening partisan divide and the realities of fundraising.In 2018, Lamb ran from a different district after the state Supreme Court threw out the old map as a partisan gerrymander. Challenging GOP Rep. Keith Rothfus in the new 17th District, Lamb won by 13 points in a seat Trump would have carried by 2 points had the new lines been in place in 2016.Running in the same district last year, Lamb won a close race, defeating GOP Army veteran Sean Parnell by 2 points as Democrat Joe Biden carried the seat by 3 points. Parnell is seeking the GOP nomination for Senate this cycle.“You could pretty safely have a Democratic voting record in that district and hold it,” said former Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire, who represented a competitive district from 2007 through 2013. “That district allows for members to have a little bit more freedom in voting with party leadership.”Democrats are also more unified in recent years, according to CQ Vote Watch. The average House Democrat's party unity score is up from 94% in 2018 to 99% in 2021.A person familiar with Lamb's thinking said the shift in his voting score reflected changes in leadership, with Democrats winning control of the House in 2018 and the White House and Senate in 2020.With just a four-seat majority in the House, there is also less room for Democrats to break with their party. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a larger majority in the last Congress, Lamb and other swing district Democrats often voted with Republicans on politically charged procedural votes.In 2019, Lamb was one of 26 Democrats who voted for a motion to recommit that added language to a gun control bill requiring the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to be notified when an undocumented immigrant attempts to buy a firearm.Lamb and 16 of those Democrats won reelection in 2020. All voted against a similar motion this year.
Lamb still describes himself as a centrist.Some of his priorities, such as benefits for veterans, attract support from both sides of the aisle. G. Terry Madonna, a senior fellow in residence for political affairs at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, said that Democrats in Lamb's district aren't necessarily in line with the party's power center in Philadelphia.“They are conservative Democrats — they're not for gun control,” he said. “They're pro-life.”Lamb has broken with leadership on some issues, such as supporting Pelosi for speaker.He was one of six Democrats to vote in December 2020 against a bill to decriminalize marijuana. Some Democrats said that vote could be used against him in a Senate primary. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a front-runner in the primary, has been a staunch proponent of legalizing marijuana.Lamb said in a statement: “I support decriminalizing marijuana. It's a big, serious issue that needs to be done the right way. This is a small, non-serious bill that wasn't done the right way and will never be signed into law, regardless of who is president.”
Lamb and Fetterman agree that the 60-vote threshold to end debate in the Senate, known as the filibuster, should be eliminated.“I believe the filibuster has to go,” Lamb tweeted last month after Senate Republicans filibustered a bill that would create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.Lamb's comments could be another sign that he is gearing up for a Senate run, since eliminating the procedure has become a rallying cry on the left. Opposing it could help Lamb build a national donor base, which could pay off even if he runs for reelection to the House since his district could become more Republican in redistricting. Pennsylvania is losing a congressional seat next year because of reapportionment.So far this cycle, Lamb's fundraising has been respectable for a competitive House incumbent, but not top-tier.His campaign hauled in about $411,000 in the first quarter of the year. By comparison, the average House Democratic incumbent who had been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee raised $562,000. Lamb's campaign had $1.1 million at the end of the quarter, putting him in the middle of a pack of 42 targeted Democrats.
