Clinton in-law loses comeback bid

Former Rep. Marjorie Margolies (D-Pa.) has lost her comeback bid.

The Associated Press has called the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania state Rep. Brendan Boyle (D), who leads Margolies by 58 percent to 22 percent. Dr. Val Arkoosh (R) took 11 percent and Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach (D) netted 8 percent. 

{mosads}Margolies, whose son is married to Chelsea Clinton, lost despite beginning the race with a huge lead in name recognition. She also benefited from help from the Clintons: Both Bill and Hillary held fundraisers for her, and her final campaign ad featured a ringing endorsement from the former president. 

The Clintons’ allegiance didn’t just stem from family ties. Margolies, as a freshman congresswoman, took a tough vote for Clinton’s 1993 budget that guaranteed its passage and all but doomed her to defeat.

But the former one-term congresswoman struggled to raise money throughout the campaign, faced a spate of bad headlines dealing with her compensation as the head of a charity, and made the strategic error of running as a front-runner until the end of the campaign, avoiding her opponents and many public events. 

Boyle emerged as her strongest opponent and withstood attacks from Margolies and pro-abortion rights groups to win the primary.

Now, he’s all but guaranteed a seat in Congress in the heavily Democratic Philadelphia-area district, vacated by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D), who lost her bid for governor on Tuesday night.