Summary
Democrat James Malone won a special election for Pennsylvania’s 36th state Senate district, flipping a seat previously held by Republicans in a district Trump won by 15 points.
Malone narrowly defeated Republican Josh Parsons by less than 500 votes, running on opposition to Elon Musk’s influence in the Trump administration.
Governor Josh Shapiro praised the victory as a rejection of extremism.
The win reduces the GOP majority in the state Senate to 27-23 and signals potential Democratic competitiveness in upcoming elections.
Who’s upset here? I’m certainly not.
I’m very upset that it says “narrrowly” and “by less than 500 votes”.
Yeah, this is just a fluke. The dems are pissed and voted more. Will that keep up? What about in 4 years? 8?
Less a fluke, more of a pattern lately. Dems have been overperforming in most special elections since Trump took office again. Sometimes by a couple percent, and frequently by 10-20%. Only a handful of underperformances
For instance, they also flipped a Trump+21 distict in Iowa. They won by 5 points too
Will it hold up in the longer term? That’s much harder to say, but it’s not just one special election that’s been a large upset
I’m convinced a lot of folks thought everyone else was going to go vote so they just didn’t. They enabled all the bullshit happening because they didn’t bother to go get in line.
I see this a lot in all sorts of things and it drives me crazy. Why can’t people just care a little more?
Like playing guild wars 2, big group boss fight. If everyone does a stun attack when the boss is vulnerable, it interrupts it and we’re more likely to win. But no, half the people can’t be assed to hit “5” on their keyboard instead of “1”.
Or littering. There’s a trash can just down the block. Just hold onto your trash for a whole minute. Nope. Can’t be bothered. Onto the street it goes.
I just want to shake people and ask them what the fuck is wrong with them. What is broken inside that you can’t just be a little better. I don’t need heroics or big risks. Just a tiny bit more. Just be a little bit more alive and awake.
At the risk of sounding like a .ml-er, I think it’s a psychological effect of living under late-stage capitalism. Society is so permeated with “rugged individualism” and “hustle culture” and whatnot that the idea of cooperation and solidarity is lost.
I’m inclined to agree, that might be a problem. I don’t think it’s the only problem, but the capitalist hell scape of “trust no one everyone for themselves” isn’t helping
Dems have switched to high propensity voters. The people who consistently turn out tend to be dems, the people who only sometimes turn out tend to be republicans. This means that special elections with low turnout favour dems.
(This is notable because before Trump came about it was the opposite pattern)
As someone who is somewhat familiar with that district, this is actually a pretty big deal.
And then calls it a “rejection of extremism.”
Best news I’ve read all day!
Apparently In is. I’m not sure who that is though.
Now they need to do it again in Florida’s 6th district, which was classified intel leaker Mike Waltz’s broght red, +30 district. It seems like a slam dunk for the Republican candidate, but the Dem, Josh Weil, is running Republican-style attack ads, calling the Rep “un-American,” “anti-American,” “dangerous,” “radical,” “corrupt,” etc., while showing him looking fat, sweaty, and really ugly, which he is. Weil himself is particularly good looking.
In addition, Weil raised nearly $10 million, and has over $1 million on hand as we hit the home stretch (election on April 1), while the Republican only raised $1 million, and has less than $100K on hand. We are seeing at least 10 Weil ads for every Republican ad. I didnt see any Republican ads yesterday, but i saw Weil ads almost every commercial break.
The only worry is that Florida is fully rigged, and nobody is elected unless DeSatan wants them to win. Perhaps the Reps weren’t worried about raising and spending campaign money because the race has been fixed from the outset.
Now the real question is can they keep the seat after the next election cycle and beyond? Can Democrats deliver on things and hammer the point home to their constituents so there can be a cultural shift that prioritizes improving things over conservative ideology? If conservatism can’t be uprooted in the community it’ll only let Republicans back in as soon as the threat of Trump is over.
I hate that Republican is the default for so many people, and it’s the Democrats that have to constantly prove themselves by putting out all of the fires that Republicans set.
But will they do anything with it or are they just more paid off politicians working in cahoots with the Republicans towards the goals of the elites?
Can we have less defeatism and more hope? Where’s that Kamala ‘hope’ and ‘joy’ energy from this past* summer?
It died when she tried tried appealing to “moderate republicans” instead of democrats.
goddamn right it did
and to salt the wounds they catered to celebs and the rich while ignoring the citizens that were protesting right outside the convention
Man you people are a bunch of fucking snowflakes after all aren’t you?
Throw a hissy fit because the only viable candidate that wasn’t going to quite literally destroy our democracy didn’t turn out perfect… “Wah she tried to appeal to people I don’t like because they’re a much larger base and they actually fucking vote.” Grow up. This shit is so embarrassing for actual adults on the left (though I can’t wait to hear why I don’t pass your purity test).
Y’all have a lot to learn about what it means to have a vote in a two party, first past the post system. Many of us hoped the last election would have been enough, but apparently not.
If you haven’t grasped it yet, I’m not sure you’re capable of understanding. You even said yourself that she, “tried to appeal to” those people, which implies that you understand that it was 100% a political move to try to get votes.
Man you people are a bunch of fucking snowflakes after all aren’t you?
“You people”?
Throw a hissy fit because the only viable candidate that wasn’t going to quite literally destroy our democracy didn’t turn out perfect.
Who are you talking about? Harris destroyed her own campaign by squandering all the momentum gained from dropping Biden off the ticket.
She was never a viable candidate because she chose to fight right-wing populism with mealy-mouthed bipartisanship.
If you haven’t grasped it yet, I’m not sure you’re capable of understanding. You even said yourself that she, “tried to appeal to” those people, which implies that you understand that it was 100% a political move to try to get votes.
I genuinely do not understand what your point is. It sounds like you’ve got your understanding of electoral politics backwards, the onus is on political parties to earn our votes and parties that can’t convince people to vote for them lose elections. Individual choice doesn’t matter, what matters is who has the best propaganda.
Yes you people. Fuck off with the faux outrage.
She’s a politician that did a stupid politician thing. It’s so fucking stupid to give a single shit about it. She tried to appeal to “old school” conservatives who she thought may have been lucid enough to see the danger Trump posed to us all.
Clearly it failed. But it’s a really fucking stupid reason to not vote for her. Just completely ignorant of the political reality we were in.
Yes you people. Fuck off with the faux outrage.
I’m not outraged, I’m confused. Who is “you people” supposed to be referring to?
She’s a politician that did a stupid politician thing. It’s so fucking stupid to give a single shit about it.
And yet, here you are getting mad because people didn’t give enough of a shit about it.
Clearly it failed. But it’s a really fucking stupid reason to not vote for her. Just completely ignorant of the political reality we were in.
Says the guy trying to blame the voters in a country that science says is not and has never been a democracy.
PA has always been a weird purple state. We have demographics across the political spectrum, and most of the elected officials on both sides of the aisle are moderates and centrists. There’s little political will to pull the conservative social bullshit you see in the South, but there also isn’t much of a progressive movement out of any of the cities. We have high concentrations of extreme wealth in the suburbs bordering extreme poverty in urban and rural communities. We have horse farms and cities. We have shale deposits, corporate headquarters, strong unions, and meth labs. We have a significant Jewish population and a significant number of hate groups and christofascists. We have immigrants and Amish. We have some of the best schools and worst schools in the country, and they play football against each other.
If there’s one rule in PA politics, it’s that business is business. Fascists and progressives don’t get far because they both impede business. Most residents are exposed to a variety of people, but there’s enough land between the haves and the have nots to prevent too much empathy from taking root. The state legislature will always be red, and the executives will tend to be blue. Even if there’s a blue wave, it won’t likely result in anything too impressive.
Depends on how much they like being alive
See? The Democrat Strategy of LET TRUMP KILL AS MANY AMERICANS AS POSSIBLE is WORKING!
Probably won’t hold it next election but that’s a pretty conservative, rural/exurban district
