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Wiz Imp

(4,922 posts) Wed Mar 26, 2025, 12:55 AM Mar 26

Democrat wins special state Senate election in Pennsylvania in major upset

This is a big deal. It's a very comfortably Red district with a 23-point Republican voter registration advantage. It cuts the Republican advantage in the state senate to 27-23, the closest the Dems have been in a long time.

The Democrat also won the Special House election easily re-establishing the Democrats' majority in the Pennsylvania House.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5214236-democrat-james-malone-wins-pennsylvania-senate/

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. Aument resigned from his office in December to become the state director for McCormick, who took office in January.

Parsons was considered likely to win in the conservative-leaning district, which President Trump carried in November with 57 percent of the vote and McCormick won with 56 percent. Aument had even been unopposed in his last election in 2022.

But Malone was able to overcome the odds, and the Democratic Party continued its strong performance in under-the-radar elections since Trump took office. Democrats notched another major upset in a strongly conservative Iowa state Senate district in January, also winning a county executive seat in New York, among other more low-key successes.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5213743-democrat-dan-goughnour-wins-pa/

Democrat wins Pennsylvania special election, handing party control of state House

Democrat Dan Goughnour has won the open Pennsylvania state House seat left vacated by the death of the most recent officeholder, restoring Democrats’ narrow majority in the body, Decision Desk HQ projects.

Goughnour, who is a member of the McKeesport school board and a police officer, will win over Republican Chuck Davis, the president of the White Oak Borough Council. The result is not a surprise in the Democratic-leaning House District 35, which voted for former Vice President Harris in November with about 58 percent of the vote.

The seat has been vacant since January, when the late Rep. Matt Gergely (D) died in office. He had first been elected to the state House in 2023 in a special election to succeed now-Lt. Gov. Austin Davis (D) and was reelected to a full term in November without opposition.

Gergely’s death reduced the Democrats’ 102-101 majority down to an even split with the Republicans, but Goughnour’s victory will return the body to the composition it had. Democrats won that majority in the state House for the first time in a decade in 2022 and kept it exactly intact in November.