There is only one thing that Joe Sestak - often described as the 'ultimate political outsider' - did not count on.
Another outsider.
Sestak, who once again thumbed his nose at his own party in seeking the Democratic nomination and a rematch against incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, was trounced by a party insider, Katie McGinty.
But it was hulking outsider John Fetterman, the 6-foot, 6-inch mayor Braddock who may have cost Sestak this election.
McGinty, the former state Department of Environmental Protection czar, one-time gubernatorial candidate and chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf, rolled to a convincing win.
This despite the fact that she consistently trailed Sestak in polling until the final week of the campaign, even while being propped up by none other than President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with other state Democratic heavyweights such as former Philly mayor and Gov. Ed Rendell, Gov. Wolf and the state's other senator, Bob Casey.
McGinty got 42 percent of the vote, to just 33 percent for Sestak.
But the real eye opener in this race was the strong late surge put on by Fetterman, who was the choice of 19 percent of Democratic voters across the state.
How ironic is it that Sestak, who infuriated party officials by rejecting their pleas to step aside six years ago and make way for party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter, to be toppled in part by another anti-establishment candidate, clearing the path to victory by a classic insider in McGinty.
Sestak dug in his heels six years ago, swimming against the tide of Democratic party leaders. He ended Specter's career with a stunning primary win, only to lose a close race to Toomey in the general election in the fall.
Those party leaders did not forget. They all shunned Sestak, who basically started running for the seat the day after his loss to Toomey. They put their names - and their money - behind McGinty.
Still, McGinty's campaign seemed to be sputtering, failing to connect with voters, as Sestak consistently held double-digit leads in polling.
Then two things happened. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden made appeared in ads pushing the McGinty candidacy. A late big-money push also helped McGinty.
But it was the presence of Fetterman, who looks like anything but a candidate for U.S. Senate, who connected with a lot of voters as someone who understood their plight, based on his background on what he did for the struggling town of Braddock.
That late combination turned the tide in this fight, and proved fatal to Sestak's hopes for a rematch.
Meanwhile, McGinty and Democrats will now turn their sights on the incumbent, Toomey, who was unopposed in the GOP Primary. That means Toomey is sitting on a huge war chest, which no doubt will be used on an avalanche of TV ads.
Toomey, however, could be vulnerable on a number of fronts. First, there is his allegiance with Republican leaders in the Senate in denying President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland, a hearing. That is the kid of obstruction that is rubbing Pennsylvania voters - the kind that backed Sestak and Fetterman - the wrong way.
But Toomey's biggest hurdle may appear at the top of both tickets.
He may be running on a Republican ballot with Donald Trump as it presidential candidate, and no one yet knows how Trump is going to play in a general election.
Then there is the likely Democratic nominee. McGinty will be aligned with the possibility of making history, electing the first woman to the White House.
In this race, it could be Pat Toomey who finds himself the outsider.
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