The News
Democrats flipped a Republican seat in Pennsylvania’s state Senate, continuing their run of overperformances in special elections. James Malone, a mayor in the Lancaster County district that was vacated by Sen. Dave McCormick’s new chief of staff, narrowly beat a Republican county commissioner; the same district had voted for Donald Trump by 15 points last year.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made a quiet push for the district; his party easily held a state House seat and regained its majority there. “I know that these are challenging times,” Shapiro said in a robocall that went to Democratic voters, “and I know that folks are often casting about trying to figure out: What is it that I can do to help in this moment?”
It was the second Democratic gain in a state legislative race this year, after a January victory in eastern Iowa. And that’s a worrying trend for Republicans, who are hoping to drive out as many 2024 Trump voters as possible in elections this year — including next week’s race for Wisconsin’s supreme court. “I asked for help in Pennsylvania, and no one helped us,” wrote GOP voter registration activist Scott Presler on X.