After months of speculation, Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Allegheny) has joined the 2022 race for U.S. Senate. 

On Friday afternoon, Lamb formally announced his candidacy for the statewide race at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #5 in Pittsburgh.

“It will be the work of our lifetimes to preserve this democracy,” Lamb said in his speech, according to a press release. “It’s not something we can do with tweets and slogans. It will be complicated. But just as Americans have always done, we get to decide what our future looks like.”

“If we want to live in a fairer country, we can build it. If we want a bigger, stronger middle class in the 21st century, we can make it. We’ve done it before and we can do it again,” he continued. “We’re in a conflict today with Trump and his followers about the future of America. I’m ready to win this race and help us move past this conflict. On the other side is our future. And it starts right here in Pennsylvania.”

Prior to his speech on Friday afternoon, Lamb released an announcement video stressing the importance of the race in the Keystone State, while also laying out a few of his priorities. 

Lamb is currently serving his second full term in Congress. 

In 2018, he captured the national spotlight when he upset Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone in the old Trump friendly 18th district, vacated by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Allegheny), in a special election and later went on to defeat Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-Allegheny) by just over 12.5 points. 

In 2020, Lamb bested GOP challenger Sean Parnell by just over 2 points. The Allegheny County Democrat had the closest reelection bid of any incumbent in the state’s congressional delegation in 2020.

The 17th District that Lamb represents went to Trump in 2016 by just a couple of points, although Joe Biden edged out Trump in the western PA District in the 2020 election.

Lamb enters the race for U.S. Senate with support from 18 labor unions and dozens of elected officials, mainly from western PA. 

Lamb is being backed by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), former House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny), IBEW Local #5, Pittsburgh Fire Fighters IAFF Local #1, Boilermakers Local #154, and more. 

Lamb joins a crowded field for the Democratic Party nomination. 

Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, Dr. Kevin Baumlin, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia), former Norristown Borough Council President John McGuigan, and Eric Orts, a professor at Penn’s Wharton School of Business, have all launched their campaigns for Senate. State Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission for U.S. Senate and formally announced his exploratory committee in April. 

According to the FEC website, Brandaun Dean, Larry Johnson, Alexandria Khalil, Kyle Norton, Alan Shank, and Llewellyn Tapera have also filed statements of candidacy for the Democratic primary.

There are also several Republicans that have already declared their candidacies in the race to succeed outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey.

Kathy Barnette, a veteran and conservative commentator who was the GOP nominee for Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District in 2020; Jeff Bartos, a Montgomery County real estate developer who was the GOP Lt. Governor nominee in 2018; Sean Gale, an attorney; Sean Parnell, a combat veteran and author who was the GOP nominee for the 17th Congressional District in 2020; Carla Sands, former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, Everett Stern, a businessman and HSBC whistleblower, have all formally declared their intentions for the GOP nomination. 

According to the FEC, Craig Snyder, a business consultant, James Edward Hayes, John Debellis, Martin Rosenfeld, and Robert Jeffries have also filed statements of candidacy.