Republican challenger Sean Parnell's lead over U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb narrows

Republican challenger Sean Parnell led U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb late Wednesday afternoon in the high-profile 17th Congressional District race, but Lamb narrowed the lead throughout the day, according to unofficial and incomplete returns.

As of 4 p.m., Parnell had collected 53.2% of the votes counted compared to Lamb’s 46.8%, a margin of nearly 23,000 votes, the Pennsylvania Department of State reported. More than 350,000 ballots had been processed, according to the Department of State.

It was unclear how many ballots were left to be counted in the district that spans three counties — about half of Allegheny County with suburbs to the south, west and north of Pittsburgh, including the Alle-Kiski Valley; part of Butler County; and all of Beaver County.

About 10 hours earlier, Parnell had led by about 14 percentage points.

Lamb, 36, led in Allegheny County with 50.6% of the votes counted compared to Parnell’s 49.5%. The Trump-backed Parnell, 39, led big elsewhere, with about 65.1% of the votes counted in Beaver County and 73.3% of the votes counted in Butler County, unofficial tallies showed.

Late Tuesday, Allegheny County Executive was optimistic about Lamb’s chances. “It looks really good for Conor,” Fitzgerald said around 10:30 p.m. at the Steamfitters Union hall in Pittsburgh, where a podium labeled “Lamb” was set up against an American flag in a parking lot where Lamb was to deliver remarks. But the early lead changed hands, and Lamb never arrived to deliver public remarks.

Fitzgerald on the so-called #RedMirage:

“In our state, the in-person votes are the ones that have been posted ... and they skew to the Republicans, they look red.

“As they continue to count over the next day or 2, it’ll change. ...

“My sense is that the blue wall will hold.” pic.twitter.com/2BG3WwXy4J

— Natasha Lindstrom (@NewsNatasha) November 4, 2020

Parnell, a Murrysville native who recently moved from Cranberry to Ohio Township, stayed home on Election Night to watch the election results privately with his family, according to a campaign staffer.

Neither candidate returned calls Wednesday.