The campaign arm of House Republicans on Wednesday released an advertisement blasting Pennsylvania Democrat Conor Lamb for negotiating a plea bargain with a drug kingpin while the nationwide opioid epidemic devastated American families.
The National Republican Congressional Committee castigated Lamb, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district special election, over his record as an assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh.
"They are mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, friends, buried by opioid addiction, preyed upon by drug dealers who profit from pain," a narrator says in the ad while darkened images of saddened people at graveyards flash across the screen.
"When a Pennsylvania drug kingpin was captured, Conor Lamb was the lead attorney," the narrator continues. "Lamb negotiated a plea bargain, dropping 269 charges [and] allowing the drug kingpin to receive a much weaker sentence."
"We can't trust Conor Lamb to fight for us," the ad concludes.
Lamb, as an assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh in 2016, secured a 10-year conviction against Andre Saunders, who dealt large quantities of heroin and cocaine, after negotiating a plea bargain that dropped many of the charges and gave Saunders a lighter sentence.