The White House is trying to distance itself from a poor showing by the Republican candidate in the Pennsylvania’s special election Tuesday night.
President Donald Trump campaigned for state Rep. Rick Saccone in a weekend rally outside of Pittsburgh and the GOP spent millions on the race to prevent an embarrassing defeat in a district Trump won handily.
But it wasn’t enough: Saccone is trailing Lamb with 100% of Election Day and absentee votes counted. Lamb has claimed victory but Saccone has said he will fight on.
Two sources close to White House are placing the blame on Saccone, echoing what other Republicans have also said about the candidate.
“GOP does not view (the race) as a referendum on Trump. Rather a weak candidate,” one source said.
“Candidates either run hard or run scared. It was obvious that Saccone decided to run scared,” said another.
The White House is not officially commenting for now.
Lamb’s narrow lead in the solidly-GOP district is a bad sign for the Republican Party as it heads into November’s midterm elections.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and top campaign lieutenants told a closed-door GOP meeting Wednesday that the result shows that Democratic enthusiasm is real and all incumbents need to be prepared for competitive races.
Multiple people from the administration campaigned for Saccone, including Vice President Mike Pence and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway. Donald Trump Jr. also campaign with Saccone on the eve of the election.
In his rally Saturday night, Trump heaped praise on Saccone.
“He’s a very competent person,” Trump said. “He’s a very hard worker. He knows things that many people don’t know. He understands North Korea maybe better than anybody.”
“This is a very extraordinary guy. We need him,” he added.