Lamb is the PA 17th district, where I live. It’s half of Allegheny County without downtown Pittsburgh and the whole next county over. He has a county that Biden won by 20 and a county that Trump won by 18. Registered Democrats outnumber registered republicans 2 to 1 in BOTH counties.
His district shifted 3 points blue in the presidential race while shifting 5 points red in the house race. He was the incumbent and his opponent basically just ran on Trumpism. Fighting the radical left, reopening the economy, supporting the police, supporting fracking, etc.
He’s 36. He won 2 house elections in 2018 in two different districts. The special election for PA 18 and then after the district lines were redrawn he won his current district.
He’s probably going to run for Pat Toomey’s senate seat in 2022.
He knows that while the AOCs of the party want to drag the nation forward-left as fast as possible kicking and screaming, there are a massive amount of people that are open to heading in that direction at a slower pace and without embracing things like defund the police and “socialism”. The vast majority of those people would completely get behind issues like police reform and progressive ideas, but not when the banner carriers are calling them defund the police and socialism.
It seems to me that Lamb understands a democratic part of the country that AOC either thinks she doesn’t need, or will see things her way eventually no matter what.
AOC wants what’s best for the whole country, but she can’t do it without a majority of the country. Her ideas are good, and her passion is well placed, but she has to see that she needs the middle to come with her. And right or wrong, how her ideas are branded will make a massive difference in how much she’s able to accomplish.