Pennsylvania's moderate Democrat Lamb distances himself from Manchin

Congressman Conor Lamb has a message to Pennsylvania Democrats who wonder whether he is liberal enough to represent them in the U.S. Senate: He is no Joe Manchin.

Locked in a tight nominating race with the Northeastern state's progressive lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, the moderate Lamb has drawn comparisons to Manchin, a conservative Democratic Senator from neighboring West Virginia who has routinely acted as a roadblock to Democratic priorities in Congress.

Manchin endorsed Lamb for his 2020 congressional bid and has helped him raise money.

During a weekend chat with Democratic voters at a coffee shop in Philadelphia suburb Jenkintown, Lamb noted that he voted for President Joe Biden's sweeping $1.75 trillion Build Back Better spending bill, which Manchin blocked. He also said he supported ending a Senate practice called the filibuster that Republicans have used to block votes on voting rights and other issues.

Manchin and fellow conservative Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona both lined up against those policies, blocking Democrats who control the 50-50 Senate due to Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote.