Free Republic

HARRISBURG — If House Republicans are successful in getting the special elections for two Allegheny County-based House districts delayed until May, the results of a Senate special election could lead to a whole new level of chaos in the power struggle in the state House. Republicans are clinging to a 101-99 advantage, with three special elections looming in seats vacated by Democrats. If Democrats win all three of those races, as expected, the Democrats will reclaim the majority in the chamber for the first time in more than a decade. One of those special elections — to fill the vacancy...

The state at the center of Democrats’ uphill drive to keep the House just gave the party the strongest signal yet that their fortunes might be reversing. After a special election campaign centered on abortion rights, turnout surged Tuesday in Democratic Rep.-elect Pat Ryan’s home turf of Ulster County — the most heavily populated section of New York’s battleground 19th District. Ryan’s margins even narrowly exceeded President Joe Biden’s performance over Donald Trump’s in the county in 2020, giving him the cushion to withstand drop-off elsewhere in the district and win a bellwether race just months before the general election.

Some good news about Republican wins in special elections in Texas and Georgia where Republicans have won in districts "won" by Dementia Joe in November or where Republicans sharply increased their margins of victory from before. Even better, we have Stacey Abrams who strongly campaigned for the losing Dem candidates only to se them lose, now whining about Republican "unprecedented attacks on freedom to vote". Chuckle. Only 10 minutes long.

Special elections can be tricky to gauge the general election from. But when all of the results of them go just one way, it's pretty obvious the other party is in trouble. Latest news: Three Virginia Democrats in a reliably blue city have just gotten the boot. A local reporter called it 'stunning beyond belief.' The Daily Caller reports: Three Democratic members of the Staunton, Virginia, city council were ousted by Republicans on Tuesday despite receiving more votes than they did four years ago. Republican candidates Mark Robertson, Amy Darby, and Steve Claffey all joined incumbent Andrea Oakes in a...

Garcia had no political experience but beat out Democratic California assemblywoman Christy Smith, who had Democratic Party support and an endorsement from former President Barack Obama. . . . “So yeah it really hurt to have my old seat flip back to Republican-for a ton of people & also for me,” Hill tweeted Sunday. “In fact, it was pretty ******* devastating. I went offline & cried for a few days but, as always, getting ready to stand back up & keep fighting. Hope you are too.” “Onward,” the former congresswoman added with a heart emoji.

The GOP clinched major victories in two special elections held on Tuesday but was largely ignored by the mainstream media. Mike Garcia managed to flip California's 25th District, becoming the first Republican to do that in the state since 1998. Garcia, a former Navy combat pilot, was declared the winner on Wednesday after his Democratic challenger, state assemblywoman Christy Smith, conceded the race. The congressional seat was previously held by Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned last year. Both Garcia and Smith will face off again in November.

Republican Brian Farnen wins House special election in Fairfield by 82 votes. Hold for Republicans. The Democrat (Leeper) was favored to win here. This area trended to the left very, very fast. (Think yuppie limousine liberal area.) Yet the GOP held on. https://twitter.com/KYSecState/status/1217251626307739648 Unofficial results from 38th district special election to replace retired Sen. Dan Seum: Mike Nemes (R)—8,637 Andrew Bailey (D)—4,943 This was an easy hold for the GOP. There is another Special election in CT and another in PA today as well. I'll post those results when I get them.

By now you have read that Quinnipiac released a survey report showing that Senator Ted Cruz is up 54/45 over fake Mexican Beto O’Rourke. While this is great news, given the source we can only wonder what the real spread is. Of Course this is great news, but great news always seems to be followed by bleating from headline readers and those who think Republicans cannot win in November because their previous special election victories have been by narrow margins over the past 18 months. Those who believe this are left to explain yesterday's Republican victory in a Texas Senate...

President Trump on Wednesday boasted that all five candidates he endorsed in this week's elections won their races, even as contests in Ohio and Kansas were too close to call. The president declared victory in a brief tweet: "5 for 5!" Trump sent the message from his New Jersey golf club, where he is spending the week on vacation. Troy Balderson, a Trump-backed Republican running for a vacant House seat in Ohio, held a narrow lead over his upstart Democratic challenger after Tuesday night's voting. The same goes for Republican Kris Kobach, who was less than 200 votes ahead of...

Democrats' path to take over the House in November took a sharp right turn last night as a Republican won a special congressional election in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. Debbie Lesko, a former state senator, bested Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a physician, by about 10,000 votes.  Donald Trump won Arizona by 21 points in 2016. Lesko will serve out the term of Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in disgrace. CNN: Lesko will fill the seat through the end of this congressional term in January and must run for re-election in November to continue serving. Even though Republicans avoided another stinging loss...

Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), a frequent critic of President Trump and a leader of the GOP’s moderate bloc in the House, said Tuesday that he will resign from Congress within weeks. His decision could set up a costly special election if the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania orders one. Dent had already announced his retirement from Congress in September, citing personal reasons for the decision while also lamenting the marginalization of the “governing wing” of the Republican Party as the GOP has moved further to the right. He said in a statement released Tuesday morning that he will leave “in the...

Republicans are learning an uncomfortable reality about the political environment for 2018: Tax cuts, conservative culture-war staples, and even Nancy Pelosi herself probably won’t be enough to overcome the deep hole that President Trump has put them in. With the White House awash in scandal and struggling to articulate its agenda, the political mood has turned so grim that Republicans are in danger of losing an upcoming special election in the heart of Trump country. That’s the lesson to draw from the surprisingly competitive campaign Democrat Conor Lamb is running in a Pittsburgh-area district Trump easily carried by 20 points,...

I was searching and found some new polling data from Alabama where the first round of the Republican primary for US Senate is next Tuesday August 15th. The top two candidates move onto the second round. The poll from JMC Analytics and Polling shows Roy Moore now at 30 percent, Luther Strange (appointed Senator supported by Mitch McConnell) at 22 percent and Congressman Mo Brooks at 19 percent. A previous poll at Strange at 35 percent, Moore at 26 percent and Brooks at 16 percent in a 19 candidate field. The "Strange Endorsement" of Strange by President Trump has come...

Iowa Democrats pulled off an impressive and important victory in a Southeast Iowa special election this evening, boosting the party’s hopes that 2018 could be a bounce-back year. Democratic veterinarian Phil Miller of Fairfield comfortably defeated Republican farmer Travis Harris of Davis County, 4,021 to 3,324 (about 55% to 45%), thanks largely to a massive victory in his hometown of Jefferson County. That means Democrats will hold on to a key rural swing district that Donald Trump won in November by 22 points.... Miller was about as ideal of a candidate as you could hope for in this race: a...

Democrats are winning special elections this year. Just not the ones most people are paying attention to.

<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — Democrats have swept special elections for a state House vacancy from the Tulsa area and a state Senate vacancy from Oklahoma City, both vacated by Republicans who resigned.</p> <p>In House District 75, which includes portions of east Tulsa and north Broken Arrow, unofficial results show voters picked Democrat Karen Gaddis over Republican Tressa Nunley on Tuesday. Both were vying to replace former Republican state Rep. Dan Kirby, who resigned this year after two former legislative assistants accused him of sexual harassment. Kirby has admitted he used poor judgment but denied harassing legislative aides.</p>

Jon Ossoff’s loss in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional election on Tuesday isn’t just a disappointment for liberals. It’s a bright red warning sign, a blaring siren that should alert Democrats everywhere that they will not take back Congress without a radical change in direction. It looked to some like the party could retake at least one branch in Congress in 2018 just by staying the course. “I don’t think Democrats want a new direction,” House Minority Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on CBS Face the Nation the week after the election. But since then, Democrats have lost four straight special elections in...

HOORAY! We lost again!!! A reliable source of humor after Democrats lose elections is Vox writer Matthew Yglesias. A month ago Yglesias was celebrating the loss of the democrat in the Montana special congressional election by declaring his loss to really mean a win for democrats. Yglesias continued mining this political comedy vein by declaring that the loss of Jon Ossoff in the George 6th Congressional District special election, after the party blew over $30 million on his campaign, really means that the "Republicans are in trouble."

Good Wednesday morning and happy first day of summer. THE FACTS -- KAREN HANDEL quite easily beat JON OSSOFF in Georgia. House Republicans are now 4-0 in contested special elections since PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP won the presidency. That means Democrats have failed -- despite millions of dollars in spending -- to win a single race with a president who has a record low approval rating. Democrats are even further from the majority than they thought. Let’s be clear: something ain’t working for Democrats, party insiders privately tell us. The Ossoff race galvanized national donors and activists in a way that...

Nearly half as many voters have cast ballots over the past two days ahead of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District runoff than voted during the entire three-week early voting period ahead the original April 18 special election. Early voting for the June 20 contest between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff began Tuesday and runs through June 16. Already, 24,476 votes in the race have been recorded through Wednesday evening, according to data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.