Penn graduate Conor Lamb expected to enter race for U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania

Democratic U.S. Representative Conor Lamb, a 2006 College and 2009 Law School graduate, is expected to enter the United States Senate race for Pennsylvania.

On July 28, Washington-based newspaper Roll Call reported that Lamb will announce his candidacy for Pennsylvania’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat on Aug. 6 at a Pittsburgh union hall for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Lamb has expressed interest in the seat as redistricting in Pennsylvania after the 2020 Census could erase his current position. The announcement comes as incumbent Senator Pat Toomey will not run for reelection and has opted to retire in 2022.

A representative from Lamb's campaign did not respond to a request for comment about Lamb's candidacy.

In 2018, the Penn Law and College alumnus gained widespread attention for winning a seat in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, a historically red area that Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. Lamb has represented Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district since January 2019. Prior to becoming a Representative, Lamb served in the Marine Corps and was Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Justice Department’s Pittsburgh office.

According to Lamb’s campaign website, he “ran on a commitment to protect Social Security and Medicare, make health care more affordable, invest in infrastructure and create good jobs, and combat the heroin epidemic, among other priorities” in both of his previous congressional campaigns.

Following Democratic President Biden’s close victory over Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election, electoral outcome prediction sources have anticipated that Pennsylvania will hold a competitive Senate 2022 election. Two major sources, The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, rated the election as a toss-up, whereas the third source, Inside Elections, described it as a battleground. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer previously reported that Lamb, a more moderate figure, could appeal to a broader audience of voters in the closely divided state, as opposed to other more liberal candidates.

Lamb would join other Penn graduates and faculty members to enter the Pennsylvania Senate race as a Democratic candidate, including: Kevin Baumlin, a professor at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine; Penn Law graduate Sen. Sharif Street; Valerie Arkoosh, a former professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical School; and Eric Orts, a Wharton Legal Studies and Business Ethics professor.