Here's why everyone in Washington is talking about a special congressional election in Pennsylvania: It's a very real possibility that a Democrat could win Tuesday in a district that President Trump won by 20 points in 2016. But the race has tightened in the closing weeks with ten of millions of dollars and marquee names like President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden coming to the southwestern Pennsylvania district to get their voters to the polls.

Similar to many in the Democratic party, Lamb acknowledges that the Affordable Care Act is flawed, but supports it based on its success in providing coverage to millions of uninsured Pennsylvanians.

The Pennsylvania contest is largely symbolic since the district (which Trump carried by almost 20% points in 2016) will disappear into the mists like Brigadoon when a new statewide redistricting plan takes effect. "It's not the "crumbs" that Nancy Pelosi and her crew on the left say", Saccone said in a debate. They labored to paint Lamb as a loyalist to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), even after Lamb said publicly that he would not support keeping her in the leadership job. That the race is even contested at all says a lot about how Trump is being viewed now in an area he crushed a year-and-a-half ago. But he said that if Lamb succeeds, it "provides some additional clues as to what Democrats can do if they run local races [in Republican-leaning districts] ..." Lamb's family connections and resume (assistant US Attorney & former Marine lawyer) with no record to hurt him positioned him to win on the second ballot among the 554 Democratic committee people in the four counties who voted.

That 20-point margin Trump won the district by in 2016 gives us a baseline of Trump support in the district.

"There is no doubt that Mr. Lamb has benefited from running against a lackluster opponent", the Times's editorial board wrote, but noted that "without a serious Democratic challenger, Mr. Saccone might have coasted to victory" in the special election. One of Lamb's official television ads calls him "the only candidate who's said that Democrats and Republicans need new leaders in Congress".

This election is the first chance both sides have to gauge how their party will do in the first midterm elections of Trump's presidency.

Jonathan Swan of Axios reports that Trump has privately called Saccone "weak" and a White House official complained to me about Saccone's poor fundraising.

Nation-wide focus on the district began with Rep. Tim Murphy's (R-Upper St. Clair) resignation after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that he asked a woman he was having an affair with to get an abortion, despite his anti-abortion policies.

Tariffs: He supports President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, saying at a debate that "we have to take some action to level the playing field". He resigned last fall.

Trump has put his full force behind Saccone.

The most money spent on a special House race - or any House race - was $55 million previous year in suburban Atlanta, in Democrats' failed effort to take a GOP-held seat. Murphy was the hardest-working congressman this region has seen in a long time, attending every imaginable event (to the detriment of his home life) and positioning himself as a moderate-to-conservative representative on all the key issues.

Voters in western Pennsylvania are set to choose between Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb in a special congressional election that could offer signs of what's to come in November's midterm elections. Open from 7 a.m.to 8 p.m., you can also check where your closest polling location is.

But the Republican nominee finds himself risking an upset that would rattle GOP confidence as it tries to defend its House majority. The White House has blamed the potential loss on Saccone.

The victor replaces Republican Tim Murphy, who resigned in October amid a sex scandal.