President Donald Trump said Rick Saccone lost the Pennsylvania special election, despite the fact that he has not yet conceded the race.
Democratic candidate Conor Lamb has declared victory following a narrow lead in Pennsylvania’s 18th District last Tuesday, and Republicans are looking at challenging the results.
At a Republican fundraising event Tuesday, Trump said Saccone “didn’t quite make it.”
“It was really close,” Trump told the attendees. “We went in there. They were down. Good man, Rick Saccone. Good man. And didn’t quite make it. But lost, think of it, lost by about 300 votes out of all of those votes. So, it’s pretty incredible. But we can’t let it happen. We have to win. There’s nothing like winning. We have to win.”
Trump then added, “We’re 5-0 and then we lost by 300 votes the other night, right? 300 out of 200-twenty-some-odd-thousand votes. 300 votes. And I will tell you, though, that area in Pennsylvania, and all of Pennsylvania, and all other states, they’re energized. ‘Cause I made a speech there two nights before, and I’ll tell you what – that crowd was – they were going. They really – they were happy. They were thrilled. I wish I was running. Man. That was some energetic group.”
The current vote tally shows Lamb up by about 700 votes, not 300.
The President had campaigned for Saccone just before the special House election, and the district was solidly for Trump in the 2016 campaign.
Trump also said there’s no reason why Republicans shouldn’t win the 2018 midterm elections.
“This year, in this election, we are fighting to win and we’re going to win,” the President said. “Just no reason why we shouldn’t win, with what we’ve done over the past year.”