Here’s the Pennsylvania District Republicans Are Panicked About

Perhaps you’ve heard that Republicans are in a panic over the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th district. In a nutshell, here’s why:

The 18th is a strong Republican district, one that Donald Trump won by 19 points. Even a centrist Democrat shouldn’t have much of a chance. But Conor Lamb has been steadily gaining ground since the start of the year, despite Republicans outspending Democrats by $9 million to $1 million.

Also: this is one of those gerrymandered districts that a judge tossed out a couple of weeks ago. Under the new map, neither candidate will live in the new 18th district, which means that winning this election has no real long-term effect.

The election is next Tuesday. Stay tuned.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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