Months after President Donald Trump decisively carried Pennsylvania, Democratic fortunes are already changing, with Democrats appearing to have won two special elections on opposite sides of the state Tuesday — one in a safe Republican state Senate district that Trump just carried by 15 percentage points, and one in a state House of Representatives district that just handed control of that chamber to Democrats.
The races are the latest in a series of overperformances by Democrats in state legislative races across the country, playing out as a referendum on the second Trump administration. And as far as the referendum goes, the state Senate race was an impressive victory for Democrats.
With all the votes counted late Tuesday night, Democrat James Malone appeared to have won over Republican state Senate candidate Josh Parsons by less than a single percentage point in Lancaster County, a largely GOP-held agricultural region west of Philadelphia.