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Correspondent Takeover: Let's talk about Pennsylvania

This week, Evan McMorris-Santoro takes over our newsletter to talk Conor Lamb and Western Pennsylvania politics.

Hey, VICE News fans, it’s me, Evan McMorris-Santoro.

This was a big week for politics, which is fortunate when it comes to newsletters because I cover politics a lot for VICE News Tonight (weeknights at 7:30 ET on HBO.)

Folks, we gotta talk about this Western Pennsylvania thing.

On Tuesday, Democrat Conor Lamb eked out a victory over Republican Rick Saccone in a closely watched special congressional election. Why was it so closely watched? Because it was in the heart of Trump Country, the 18th congressional district. That’s a district the president won by double digits in 2016. So Republicans wanted to show they can hold the line in places they won last time. Democrats wanted to show they can rally behind the kinds of candidates who can win anywhere thanks to Trump’s dismal approval ratings. Lamb fit the bill, it seems (more on how Democrats actually pulled it off here.)

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But here’s the weird part, as producer Mary Grace Lucas and I reported this week: The race actually didn’t matter. The district both parties were fighting so hard over doesn’t exist anymore.

Thanks to redistricting, voters in the 18th are now scattered and divided up in new ways. So if Lamb wants to stay in Congress, he now has to mount a Democratic primary campaign in a district that’s a lot more Democratic than the 18th. Saccone, the defeated Republican? He already started gathering signatures to campaign in a new district where a Republican is all but guaranteed to win. The upshot: It’s more than a little likely the candidates who fought over the 18th like it was the most important election in American history will both find themselves in Congress next year.

Some other stuff from VICE News this week that has been good -- and weird, too

Additional interesting stuff from outside the VICEiverse

That’s it for me. I’m off to find more weird stories in what is shaping up to be one of the wildest years for our country since, well, the last one. And maybe the one before that. Say hi: @EvanMcS on Twitter and ems@vice.com on your email dial.

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