The story I heard was:
There have been major changes in re- districting in that area.
Molinaro was placed in the district he was in last night...
only until he could assume his REAL DISTRICT.
When Molinaro runs in his own district HE IS GUARANTEED TO WIN, it is heavily red.
This “loss” wasn’t really a loss at all.
Fact: This special election was run under EXACTLY the same lines as existed before redistricting. November's election will be the first one under the new district lines.
Fact: Under the lines used on Tuesday (the same ones used going back to 2012) it was rated as R+3. So it actually favors REPUBLICANS slightly. Trump actually won -- by nearly 7 points -- this allegedly "Democrat district" in 2016 and only narrowly lost it in 2020.