Donald Trump seems to endorse congressional candidate while giving economic speech

President Donald Trump has waded into Pennsylvania’s special election as Democrats eye another upset-victory ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

While speaking at H&K Equipment, an industrial equipment company just outside Pittsburgh, Mr Trump called the Republican candidate Rick Saccone “special”.

Earlier on Thursday, the President tweeted that he was heading to Pennsylvania to give his “total support” to Mr Saccone, a current state representative and former military intelligence officer.

The special election is being held to replace former Republican congressman Tim Murphy, who resigned in October amid a sex scandal.

Despite his brief mention of Mr Saccone, Mr Trump’s speech focused primarily on the economy and promoting his tax cuts.

Mr Trump previously told reporters he would return to Pennsylvania – a state that helped propel him into the presidency - to help Mr Saccone ahead of the special election on March 13.

Mr Trump won the district where Mr Saccone is hoping to triumph by nearly 20 points in the November 2016 presidential election. The real estate magnate also surprised analysts and pundits by the taking all of Pennsylvania, which has traditionally been a Democratic-leaning state, by less than 1 per cent.

Mr Saccone is taking on Democrat Conor Lamb, a Marine veteran and former prosecutor.

The race will be widely watched to see if it’s another sign that Democrats may sweep the midterm elections in November and regain majorities in Congress.

Mr Trump’s last foray into congressional politics did not bear fruit for Republicans.

In a special US Senate election in Alabama last year, the President first backed Luther Strange, who had been named temporarily to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when Mr Trump nominated him to be US attorney general.

After Mr Strange lost to Roy Moore in the primary, Mr Trump then backed Mr Moore. The President even decided to support Mr Moore after the candidate was accused of sexual misconduct. The Republican denied all the allegations against him.

Mr Moore then lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the general election – a stunning result given the conservativeness of Alabama.