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)
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.
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?
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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
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
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.
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
