The Republicans won a special South Carolina House election on Tuesday, but the Democrats overperformed by double digits compared to their performance in the 2024 presidential election.
Republican John Lastinger won 62.3 percent of the vote in the election for the 88th district seat, beating Democrat Chuck Hightower, who secured 37.7 percent. This gave the Republicans a net win of +24.6 percent over the Democrats.
This represents an improved performance for the Democrats compared to the 2024 presidential election, when President Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the district by 67 percent to 32 percent, according to The State newspaper. In that election, the Republicans won with a net margin of +35 percentage points.
But my point isn’t that things were fixed, but that they’ll never be fixed. There will be a slight leftward swing, there will be a couple minor victories that nobody is really happy about, and then a huge rightward shift that undoes all or most of it.
Because this has been the pattern for my entire fucking life and it’s getting older than I feel.
Yes, progress is fragile and needs constant defending. This is an important observation you have made.