Bill Russell has already raised over $2 million. That would be an enormous boost in a special election. This could turn out like that special election in Hawaii back in 1986.
Possibly. For those that don’t know how that turned out, that was when Dem Congressman Cec Heftel (who died last week, btw) resigned a year early to make a losing run for the Dem nomination for Governor. Dem Neal Abercrombie won the all party special election by 1,000 votes over Republican Pat Saiki, but he lost the Dem nomination for the full term to future Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, but Hannemann lost to Saiki that November. Now, 24 years later, Hannemann and Abercrombie are facing each other again for the Dem nomination, this time for Governor.