For election watchers, the congressional special election in New York was clearly this week’s marque contest. A House Republican leader, campaigning in the Long Island district, went so far as to argue, “The nation is watching what happens here.”
But as Democrats celebrated their success in the Empire State, there was another race election watchers were following in a neighboring state, which mattered, too. NBC News reported overnight:
Democrats won a state House special election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, preserving the party’s narrow majority in the closely watched battleground state, The Associated Press projected. In the race for the open seat in the 140th state House District, Democrat Jim Prokopiak, a school board member in Bucks County, defeated Republican Candace Cabanas.
While those names won’t be familiar to national audiences, one of the reasons the results stood out is the larger legislative context: Had the GOP candidate in this race prevailed, Democrats would’ve lost their narrow majority in the Pennsylvania state House.
But just as notable was the local geography. NBC News’ report added, “The win in Bucks County — a purple slice of the northern suburbs of Philadelphia — was hailed as positive news by national Democrats, some of whom had viewed the contest as an early bellwether of the party’s fortunes among suburban voters ahead of the 2024 election.”
Note, in the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden won this district by roughly 10 points. In the special election, the Democratic candidate appears to have won by roughly 35 points.
What’s more, a Politico report noted that there have been six legislative special elections in Pennsylvania over the past year, and Democrats have won all of them. Given the stakes, this Bucks County contest drew some national attention — the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee reportedly invested more than $80,000 into the race — and after Prokopiak’s victory, the DLCC took a victory lap. “Bucks County voters represent a key part of the electorate that Democrats need to win over to build Democratic majorities across the country — today’s election signals the momentum behind Democrats’ agenda up and down the ticket,” the DLCC said in a written statement.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
