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”.
And then calls it a “rejection of extremism.”
Yeah, this is just a fluke. The dems are pissed and voted more. Will that keep up? What about in 4 years? 8?
As someone who is somewhat familiar with that district, this is actually a pretty big deal.
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
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)
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
Best news I’ve read all day!
Apparently In is. I’m not sure who that is though.