President Trump’s supporters are shocked and disappointed that his business empire employed illegal immigrants, even while he was in the Oval Office and calling on Congress for a crackdown.

In interviews with Trump voters throughout Pennsylvania, the president got the benefit of the doubt. His supporters said he either was not responsible for front-line hiring decisions or that employing illegal immigrants is a common and near-unavoidable practice in America’s hospitality and construction industries.

About 11 million illegal immigrants are living in the U.S. and 7.8 million have jobs, accounting for nearly 5 percent of the civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.

In the U.S., illegal immigrants make up roughly 53 percent of farmhands, 15 percent of construction labor, and 9 percent of manufacturing and service industry workers, according to Pew.

Ford O’Connell, a Republican Party strategist closely allied with the White House, said the criticism will ring hollow because it comes from Democrats pushing an open-borders agenda of sanctuary cities and voting rights for illegals.

“Obviously the Democrats are going to throw the kitchen sink at him and try to dislodge any support he has in the Rust Belt. That’s what they see as their path to victory,” he said.

Mr. O’Connell said the president can easily bat away the criticism by saying, “As a businessman, I took advantage of a rigged system that works against the American worker. As president, my foremost concern is the American worker, and that’s why I’m working to fix our broken system.

“The problem is the broken system,” he said.

Read more from S.A. Miller at The Washington Times

Don’t look now, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is rising in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary polls and is once again drawing both large crowds at campaign stops and Bernie Bros back to their keyboards.

And just like in 2016, Sanders is already giving many Democrats and their allies heartburn.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) recently said Sanders should not be allowed to run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, because “[h]e’s not a Democrat.”

When asked why Sanders won’t refer to Venezuelan strongman Nicholas Maduro as “a dictator” or take a position on whether the socialist dictator must go, Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) insinuated that it just doesn’t really matter because Sanders “is not going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party.”

And then there are the former staffers of 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton who claim that Sanders was far from a team player when he lost the nomination. Worse, they suggest he is a diva who relishes “carbon-spewing private jet” travel. Not exactly a good look for a candidate who is constantly barking about climate change and the size of America’s carbon footprint.

There is no doubt the heated rift over Sanders is reopening old wounds. The prize thus far for Sanders furor goes to The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald who in defense of Sanders called MSNBC “a dishonest political operation, not a news outlet” for its allegedly slanted coverage of Sanders’ first 2020 campaign rally in Brooklyn, New York.

Taken as a whole, the message from institutional Democrats and their allies in the media is simple: Just please go away, Bernie.

Read more from Ford O'Connell at The Hill

For someone who talks so much about winning, President Donald Trump is racking up quite the losing streak.

The electoral earthquake in Pennsylvania set to send Democrat Conor Lamb to the House of Representatives from a district Trump won by 20 points in 2016 is sparking new questions about the President's personal political potency.

That's because state Rep. Rick Saccone is not the first GOP candidate during Trump's term to win the President's blessing and promptly lose. Trump-backed candidates Luther Strange, Roy Moore and Ed Gillespie also tanked in Senate and gubernatorial races in Alabama and Virginia.

Those busted endorsements suggest that for all his mystical connection with his base, Trump is not necessarily an asset for GOP candidates in special elections. They may also be a sign that the President will be more of a liability than an asset for Republicans come midterm elections in November.

While some Republicans are in denial over the implications of Tuesday's special election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District, others are concluding that relying on the President in reelection races may not be a sure bet.

Despite his losing streak, Trump may not be a millstone for all Republicans in November -- at least not in races in rural districts.

"Some Republicans are going to have to run different races than other Republicans, particularly those in suburban districts where Trump is not popular," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist.

"In some of these other districts, Trump might be a huge asset for you. I don't think there is a one size fits all. I would look at this as more suburban versus not as suburban."

Pennsylvania's crucial, too-close-to-call special election yielded no definitive winner early Wednesday morning. Not that it really matters either way. It's already a dreadful outcome for Republicans now doubting whether they can hold the U.S. House of Representatives in the fall.

Even before the count is complete for the remaining 3,000-plus absentee ballots for Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone, the toss-up special election in Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district is an unnerving setback for Republicans, simply by virtue of this being a contest in the first place.

Trump won the predominantly white and working-class voting district by nearly 20 points in 2016. Mitt Romney carried it by 17 points in 2012.

And yet, with all precincts reporting, Lamb had eked out a lead of fewer than 600 votes, though some absentee ballots were yet to be counted. Lamb declared victory early Wednesday, but Saccone has not conceded.

However it pans out, the margins have improved dramatically for Democrats since 2016. A 20-per-cent swing is nothing to sniff at, says Republican strategist Ford O'Connell, who knows Pennsylvania's 18th well.

"This shows the Republicans what a tough climate they're in," O'Connell said. "We don't know if it's a blue wave, but one thing's for sure: Republicans should certainly be scared."

If Republicans weren't panicking before, it's time, he said.

"They need to be getting off their duffs, knocking on doors and dialling for dollars. Because this should be a wake-up call for Republicans that the House is in danger."

Read more from Matt Kwong at CBC News

Republicans are scrambling to avoid a political embarrassment in a conservative district of Pennsylvania, where a pro-gun, pro-union Democrat who opposes abortion could be about to win a congressional election in one of President Donald Trump’s white, working-class strongholds.

Democrat Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine veteran and former federal prosecutor, is in a dead heat with Republican state Representative Rick Saccone in Tuesday’s special election for an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that Republicans have held since 2003.

The race is seen as a referendum on Trump and a harbinger for November’s congressional midterm elections, according to pollsters and party insiders who say the moderate Democrat could emerge as a model for Democratic candidates in other competitive House districts that Trump carried in 2016.

Trump won the district, in southwest Pennsylvania, by nearly 20 points in 2016 and has endorsed Saccone.

Still, Lamb has fought to make the contest a local referendum and said he was focused on issues in his district even as he welcomed Democratic enthusiasm over the race.

Saccone, 60, a conservative who has described himself as“Trump before Trump was Trump,” led the race by more than 10 percentage points in January. The contest has since narrowed to a toss-up on a wave of Democratic voter enthusiasm for Lamb.

Republicans see the president’s plans to impose steel and aluminum import tariffs as a way to generate enough enthusiasm among Trump’s blue-collar supporters to counteract the energy of Lamb’s backers.

“They’re hoping this is something that potentially, in the grand calculus, could throw Saccone over the top,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell.

While the district has just over 500,000 registered voters, U.S. Labor Department statistics show that metal production accounts for less than 10,000 jobs.

Read more from David Morgan at Reuters

A dependably red swatch of southwest Pennsylvania could fall after Tuesday's vote to a 33-year-old Democrat who has never held elected office. And for Democrats, this special election comes down to how to put the entire U.S. House of Representatives in play.

If fresh-faced Democratic challenger Conor Lamb wins, his party's fortunes in the congressional district could rewrite the playbook for winning more races in November's midterm elections.

Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district might seem a virtual lock for Republican candidate Rick Saccone. U.S. President Donald Trump carried by nearly 20 points in 2016, and the previous Republican incumbent Tim Murphy ran unopposed his last two terms.

And that would probably be the case were it not for Lamb, says veteran Republican strategist Ford O'Connell.

"Candidates matter. And Conor Lamb is a superior candidate," said O'Connell, who knows the Pennsylvania district well.

He is among a chorus of conservatives casting Saccone's candidacy as underwhelming. Lamb is on an energetic grassroots mission that's threatening to sway 2016 Trump voters, he said. 

A Republican victory won't deliver instant relief to the party. A narrow win would still be alarming. What matters is whether the Republicans can win big enough to blunt Democrats' enthusiasm and deny them something valuable — "a template to win," as O'Connell puts it.

Read more from Matt Kwong at CBC News

You may not have heard of Rick Saccone, but for the next week, he just might be the most important man in American politics.

Saccone, a Republican, faces Democrat Conor Lamb in a March 13 special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. The two are vying to replace Tim Murphy, a Republican who had to resign after scandals about mistreatment of staff and allegedly asking his mistress to get an abortion, even though he was one of the most strongly pro-life members of Congress.

Under normal circumstances, this should not be a difficult race for Saccone. Yes, Democrats hold a 70,000-person edge in voter registration, but President Trump carried the district by 20 points, Murphy won unopposed his last two terms and Saccone is used to winning in districts where his party is in the minority.

Moreover, it is estimated that Saccone has outspent his opponent 17-to-1, he will have received campaign visits by President Trump, Vice President Pence and first daughter Ivanka Trump by election day and is running in a district that has voted Republican by increasing margins in the last five presidential elections.

But this is no ordinary year.

Lamb, who, at 33, already has served as an officer in the Marines and a federal prosecutor, is no ordinary opponent. His family has been in politics for generations, he has announced he would not support Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as speaker, and he has managed to pull even or even surpass Saccone in the polls.

And there could not be much more riding on one race in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania in a district that may not even exist once Pennsylvania settles on a redistricting plan.

Read more from Ford O'Connell at The Hill

President Trump is publicly breaking with congressional Republicans on trade and guns, causing tensions within the party at a time when lawmakers hope to be united ahead of the midterm elections. 

Republican strategists and nonpartisan political experts say Trump appears to be looking beyond this fall’s elections, when GOP control of Congress is at stake, to his own bid for a second term in 2020.

The announcement on Thursday of the tariffs, which have yet to formally be put in place, came shortly after Trump said that Brad Parscale, his longtime digital marketing strategist, would be his 2020 reelection campaign manager.

While there have been no significant polls on the tariffs so far, Trump’s populist positions on trade were popular in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, states that sealed his victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.   

“He’s fighting for the industrial Midwest, which is essentially the key for him to win reelection, and this is obviously something where he is putting their interests first while everyone else is pooh-poohing the idea of fighting for the American worker,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who worked on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign.

Read more from Alex Bolton at The Hill

President Donald Trump has alarmed the Republican establishment and world leaders by threatening tough steel tariffs, a message that might be meant not just to shake the world trade order but to help defend a congressional seat in Pennsylvania.

Some Republican strategists said Trump’s tariff threat appeared to be timed, at least in part, to sway voters in the steel country of Pennsylvania, including its 18th District where Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb are facing off.

In a special election on March 13, the two will vie to replace Republican Tim Murphy, who resigned in October in a sex scandal. If Saccone loses, it would be a blow to Trump, the first loss by Republicans of a seat in the House of Representatives since he took office in January 2017. The results will not affect Republican control of the chamber.

Trump has endorsed Saccone and is scheduled to visit the Pittsburgh area on Saturday for a campaign event. Saccone met Trump on arrival for a similar event in January.

Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said Trump’s stance on steel and aluminum tariffs could help Republicans, not only in southwestern Pennsylvania, but across the industrial Midwest.

“The timing definitely helps Saccone,” O’Connell said.

Read more from David Morgan and Roberta Rampton at Reuters

Mark Marran, an operations manager for a Fortune 500 company, voted for Donald Trump. Two weeks ago he noticed an extra $100 in his bimonthly pay check, courtesy of sweeping tax cuts passed by the Republican Congress late last year.

Marran says the extra cash is nice, but it will not change his life.

These are worrying words for the GOP, which is banking on the tax cuts pushed by President Trump to help Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in midterm elections this November.

A crucial early test is set for March 13 here in western Pennsylvania. Republican candidate Rick Saccone, a conservative Trump loyalist, is vying to win a special election for a congressional seat in a district that the president won by 19 points in 2016.

Yet recent polls show a tightening race in Pennsylvania’s 18th district, where Republicans typically enjoy a double-digit advantage.

Saccone, meanwhile, has been touting Trump’s signature legislative achievement as a boon for the middle class. “Tax cuts are changing lives,” says one of Saccone’s TV spots. But it remains to be seen whether the four-term state representative can persuade tax-cut skeptics such as Marran and Smith.

The special election, which will fill a seat left vacant when incumbent Republican congressman Tim Murphy quit amid personal scandal, is an early litmus test for the GOP tax message, said Ford O‘Connell, a Republican strategist.

It is “a trial run,” heading into November, he said. “Trump obviously wants to hold the seat and Trump wants to find out if he has delivered enough to keep voters happy.”

O’Connell, the Republican strategist, is optimistic the tax message will gain traction. Middle-class voters could well warm to the tax cuts by November, he said. And he believes Saccone will win next month.

Read more from Tim Reid at Reuters