I will concede this: Conor Lamb, PA-D17, is an honorable man. He served our country in the Marines and has secured many benefits for veterans, including those established in the Whole Veteran Act. He has also said that he is not a big fan of Speaker Pelosi and has called for “new blood” in Washington leadership. The Congressman even refused to vote for her in the Speaker election.

But there’s a problem with Mr. Lamb. He ran his campaign on bringing change and bipartisanship, yet he voted on partisan lines in the House impeachment vote and rarely joins Republicans on votes in general.

Sure, Lamb voted against Pelosi becoming speaker. However, Pelosi would have been elected speaker regardless, and he voted for a candidate who received only his vote.

Lamb voted for both articles of impeachment on the grounds that Trump withheld aid for Ukraine. However, he did not mention the fact that President Zelensky was just elected. The fact is the aid was withheld until President Trump could make a judgement call on the new president. If you know anything about Ukrainian presidents, you probably heard about the corruption that has plagued the office. Giving guns and lethal weapons to someone corrupt would not have been the right call.

Lamb said, “For 70 years and up till the present day, politicians in both parties believe that them having those guns, and them having those bullets and them having those grenade launchers are in our interests.”

All we have to do, though, is look back to the Obama administration to find that we did not send lethal weapons to the Ukrainians.

Additionally, Jim Townsend, who spent eight years as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, recently said, “When Trump was elected, the first thing they did was send in the Javelin. It wasn’t exactly high-end, but we were very happy, and they built on a very firm foundation.”

Lamb then went on to say that “the reason clearly turned out to be that he wanted them to investigate the Bidens.”

However, there is and was no investigation of the Bidens, and the aid is no longer withheld.

Lamb then said that this “selfish political act, not one that was in the interests of the United States and that is what makes it an abuse of office.”

Representative Lamb may come off as a moderate on several issues, but the more research that is done raises questions about this claim. For example, he voted with Trump’s public opinion about 20% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.com. That’s a total of three votes: USMCA, the two-year budget deal, and a vote to table articles of impeachment.

So let’s dig into his “moderate” voting record. On July 18th, Lamb voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report that analyzes the economic impact of the Raise the Wage Act, a House bill that would gradually double minimum hourly pay by 2025. The report concluded that around 1.3 million Americans would be laid off as a result.

He also voted against pulling troops out of Syria, and despite saying he supports border wall funding and fencing, he voted eight times against border wall and funding for homeland security in general.

Even though he appeared in an ad touting his support for the Second Amendment, Lamb received an F rating from the National Rifle Association, due to his belief that universal background checks and red flag laws should be instituted.

Although Mr. Lamb personally opposes abortion, he still thinks it should be allowed and therefore has received an A+ rating from Planned Parenthood.

In response to a question on being referred to as one of Nancy Pelosi’s “sheep,” Lamb simply called it a “talking point” and voted with Pelosi on 47 votes, 98% of the time. They disagreed on only one vote. Another interesting statistic is that he has voted with the infamous left wing radicals dubbed “The Squad” (Representatives Omar, AOC, Tlaib and Pressley) on over 90% of votes.

With that record, Lamb should not be considered a moderate and pull one over on this district again. PA-17 believed they were sending a moderate him to Washington, yet he has fallen in line with Democratic leadership and abandoned his mission to work on bipartisanship and bridging America’s political divide.

That said, I believe that many people who voted for the President in PA-17 will once again do so and could carry a victory for Republican challenger Sean Parnell. Though the Primary is April 28th, Parnell has received Trump’s endorsement and is the favorite for the nomination. Trump has referred to Parnell as a “great patriot” and other high praises on Twitter.

Mr. Parnell is an Army Ranger and recipient of the Purple Heart. While in Afghanistan, his Outlaw platoon had over 350 confirmed kills in his tour in Afghanistan. They remain one of the most decorated Army units since 9-11. The Ohio Township resident just announced that he is officially on the ballot, and he and his staff have been working tirelessly in a district that could potentially flip.

“I have spent my life fighting for our country, both as a leader in combat and through my charity work giving back to Veterans,” Parnell recently said in an email exchange with The Uproar.

Parnell blasted Conor Lamb, preaching that “right now the people in PA-17 are not being represented by western PA values. Conor Lamb has broken nearly every promise he made to voters in Western PA. Our region deserves a leader who will fight for them, and that is why I answered President Trump’s call and jumped in the race.”

Make no mistake – Parnell believes he can beat Lamb.

“Lamb embodies what people hate most about politics– leaders who say one thing to get elected and do another once they get into office,” Parnell wrote, adding, “Lamb votes in lockstep with the liberals in his party, even after promising to be an independent voice and oppose Nancy Pelosi.”

Parnell is highly motivated and wants to take PA-17 back for the Republicans. In a district that was won by Trump in 2016, it will certainly be interesting to see if he can win a seat Lamb won by around 40,000 votes.