Democrat wins special state Senate election in Pennsylvania in major upset

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. Why the latest Democratic special election victories should make Republicans nervous

The more Democrats win special elections in districts carried by Donald Trump, the more the GOP has reason to worry about the political winds’ direction.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3llbt4zcdsk2d

The more Dems win special elections in districts Trump carried easily last fall, the more the Republicans have reason to worry about the direction of the political winds.

Take the latest races in Pennsylvania, for example.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/latest-democratic-special-election-victories-make-republicans-nervous-rcna198142

But it was the results of the other special election in the Keystone State that will raise eyebrows far outside Pennsylvania. The Hill reported:

Democrat James Malone has won an open Pennsylvania state Senate seat in a major upset in a district that comfortably voted for President Trump in November, Decision Desk HQ projects. Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg, is projected to defeat Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons to represent Senate District 36 for the remainder of former state Sen. Ryan Aument’s (R) term.

Anytime a party manages to flip a district, it tends to generate some attention, but the closer one looks at this contest, the more dramatic the results appear: This is a district that Donald Trump carried by 15 points last fall.

What’s more, as an analysis in The Downballot noted, “Since taking its present form in Lancaster County 40 years ago, the district has always been held by the GOP, and the county as a whole has gone for a Democrat at the presidential level just once since 1856 (Lyndon Johnson just barely won it in 1964).”

This is not, in other words, a district where a Democrat is supposed to be competitive. And yet Malone prevailed by running on a notable platform. From The Downballot’s analysis: “Malone focused his message heavily on education and cuts to the federal government that he’s had to deal with as mayor of a small town, specifically calling out Musk for slashing ‘benefits for veterans, retirees, and students.’”

These results come just eight weeks after a Democrat in Minnesota won a state legislative special election, giving the party a majority in the state Senate, which coincided with a state Senate special election in Iowa in which Democrat Mike Zimmer narrowly defeated his Republican rival.

The Iowa race generated some national coverage because of the broader circumstances: This special election was held in a district thought to be a GOP stronghold. Indeed, Trump won this district by 21 points. Then a Democratic candidate managed to flip the state Senate seat from red to blue anyway.

The Iowa and Minnesota contests came on the heels of a couple of closely watched state legislative special elections in Virginia, held a few weeks earlier, which Democrats also won. The contests were, as an NBC News report put it, “an early test of the political environment.”

These results make me smile