Mar 20, 2018 4 min read

Conor Lamb’s name will be appearing on the Democratic ballot in the May 15 primary, but many of those who noted his name in voting just a week ago won’t be seeing it again.

Due to a redrawing of the map governing Pennsylvania congressional districts, Lamb, 33, of Mt. Lebanon, now lives in the 17th District, which includes part of Allegheny County, including his home community, all of Beaver County and a small section of Butler County.

A contest on the Democratic ballot in the 17th appears to be shaping up with attorney Elizabeth M. Tarasi of Sewickley Heights and Ray Linsenmayer of McCandless also filing nominating petitions Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus of Sewickley, the incumbent Republican who won a seat in Congress in 2012 when he defeated Democrat Mark Critz, was the sole GOP candidate listed for the 17th District.

Questions swirled around what might become of the geographic boundaries put in place last month by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but Monday, federal courts rejected Republican challenges.

The map that will be in place for the remainder of 2018 put all of Washington, Greene and Fayette counties and part of Westmoreland County in the 14th Congressional District.

Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone, 60, of Elizabeth Township, is, at the latest count, losing by more than 700 votes to Lamb in the former 18th Congressional District.

The winner of the special election in the 18th District will succeed disgraced Republican Tim Murphy, who resigned his seat last October amid an adultery scandal.

Saccone lives in Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, which is now part of the new 18th Congressional District, where the incumbent is Democrat Mike Doyle.

But Saccone has filed in the new 14th District, which includes much of the territory he won in the special election, part of the Pittsburgh media market that he and Lamb and political action committees blitzed with commercials in the electronic media.

Residency in a district is not required to seek or hold the office as long as a candidate meets other legal requirements.

Also filing in the 14th District as of Tuesday morning was state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler of Jefferson Hills, also part of the 18th District, who was beaten by Saccone in a Republican nominating convention for the special election Nov. 11.

Democrats filing in the 14th Congressional District were Adam C. Sedlock Jr. of Wharton Township, Fayette County, a psychologist who ran unsuccessfully in 2016 as a write-in candidate in the 9th District against U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster; Bibiana Boerio of Unity Township, Westmoreland County, a former automobile company executive and interim president of Seton Hill University, Greensburg; Robert C. Solomon of North Fayette Township, Allegheny County, a physician; and Tom Prigg, formerly of the Taylorstown area, who now lives in Pittsburgh’s North Hills.

Shuster announced his retirement earlier this year.

At least two of the four counties – Washington and Greene – that comprise the current 18th Congressional District have finished tabulating ballots from members of the military and those who are overseas.

Republicans, on Saccone’s behalf, have mounted a challenge of the results of the March 13 special election and notified the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Washington County Tuesday counted five ballots from overseas, all of which were for Lamb.

Westmoreland County released unofficial totals late Tuesday afternoon, showing 40,951 votes for Saccone and 30,449 for Lamb.

In Allegheny County, from 38 military and overseas ballots and one emergency ballot, Lamb gained 34 votes on Tuesday to Saccone’s five.

Tuesday’s totals from the four counties, give Lamb 114,097 votes to Saccone’s 113,339, or a 758-vote lead.

In a news release about his renewed candidacy in the 14th District, Saccone called the results of the March 13 special election “still unfinalized.”

The challenge period in Washington County, which Saccone won, expires next week, said Melanie Ostrander, assistant director of elections. Beth Lechman, director of election for Westmoreland, said her county has pre-certification scheduled for Friday.