States are still running special elections, yes, I’m surprised, too, and so there are still chances to read the entrails future. While the special election in California is not notable for my purposes, which is to wonder what will come for the U.S. Senate, this Pennsylvania special election does have impact:
Brandon Dukes, a Democrat, won the special election for Pennsylvania House District 12, defeating Republican Scott Timko by fewer than 100 votes to claim a seat held by Republicans since the late 1990s. [WTAE]
This important, if true, as well.
Eugene DePasquale, chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, highlighted the significance of Dukes’ win.
“The reason why this win is big, beyond just adding one more seat to the Democratic column. There’s just no way a Democrat wins this seat without a very big chunk of Trump voters voting for him. That the math just is impossible without that,” DePasquale said.
Are Trump voters beginning to desert the Republican Party? Hey, whatever happened to the 2026 Republican National Convention? Oh, here it is. I’m sort of looking forward to seeing the attendance at this convention; it’s already been described as a convention of grifters. I sure wish I could find that link.
Just how big is this? Steve Benen has an important number:
Heading into last week’s state legislative special election in Pennsylvania, Republicans had reason to be optimistic. The race was in a Pittsburgh-area district that Donald Trump won by 18 points in 2024, and it’s been a GOP stronghold for decades.
Surely, someone in the know should be worried, right? Like the House Speaker, yes?
These special elections are a one-off. They’re anomalies. That’s why we call them special.
And Republicans never attend them? They’re special because the causative event is unusual: a death, a resignation, an expelling. The results are only sometimes special, in the sense that they’re one-offs.
But Speaker Johnson’s exhibited intelligence and allegiance to truth has not been a confidence-building exercise for me. Both he and the country would benefit if he were to remove himself from politics.
