Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Republicans Aim to Stop a Democratic Wave Right Here

Western Pennsylvania was Trump country in 2016. A March special congressional election will test whether it still is.

January 28, 2018 at 3:00 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

They need each other.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

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Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, whose population peaked about the time native son Perry Como left in the 1930s, is Trump country. A special congressional election there in six weeks makes it a pretty good place to test whether President Donald Trump's standing is eroding or not.

The area's Republican Congressman Tim Murphy represented the southwestern Pennsylvania district for 14 years until he resigned in scandal last October. Mostly rural, with small towns and a slice of Pittsburgh suburbs, it should be a slam dunk for Republicans. Trump carried it by 19 percentage points and Murphy ran unopposed in the last two elections. But Democrats, sensing a national blue wave, think they have a shot.