
Pennsylvania's 18th District was Trump country in 2016. But on Sunday, voters there gave a raucous standing ovation to Democrat Conor Lamb.

Trump made a desperate and disgusting last-minute pitch for the Republican in the Pennsylvania special election. But many former Trump voters are vocally and enthusiastically backing Democrat Conor Lamb.

On Saturday night, Trump trotted out his familiar mix of racism and despotism in service to Republican Rick Saccone. He unleashed hateful attacks on women like California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. He smeared members of the press. And he rambled on again about making Mexico pay for his border wall.

But many Pennsylvania voters are no longer interested in what Trump and Saccone are offering.


At a Sunday rally in Waynesburg, Lamb received an uproarious standing ovation from the audience.

And that coal country crowd included "a lot of Trump-voting Dems," according to NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard.

Saccone has squandered a huge polling lead in a district Trump won by 20 points. He now trails Lamb slightly in recent polls.

Saccone already needed all the help he could get. His refusal to support an anti-animal cruelty bill and his heartless dismissal of the mother of an opioid addict likely did him no favors.

And despite his last-ditch pitch, Trump has taken to trashing Saccone in private. And other Republicans trying to save face have done likewise.

The fact that Conor Lamb even has a chance in this district is amazing, and an indictment of the politically toxic Trump. But if Lamb's welcome by these coal miners is any indication, he has much more than a fighting chance to humiliate Trump on Tuesday.