This is an adapted excerpt from the March 26 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Typically, in March of an odd-numbered year, we don’t get a lot of big election news. However, that isn’t the case this year. On Tuesday, we got two major results out of two elections in Pennsylvania.
In the Pennsylvania state House, Democrats won a special election that will hand them control of that legislative chamber. The win wasn’t much of a surprise since it was considered a Democratic-leaning district. In November, Kamala Harris won it by 16 points. That said, there was still a bit of good news for Democrats, because even though Harris won that district by 16 points, on Tuesday the Democratic candidate, Dan Goughnour, did even better — he won by nearly 30 points. That’s a huge margin, and reason alone for Pennsylvania Democrats to celebrate.
Republicans are reportedly growing concerned after the Democratic candidate out-fundraised the GOP candidate by more than 10-to-1.
But there was also another election in the state, this one for a seat in the Pennsylvania state Senate. The seat had previously been held by a Republican and it was seen as a really red district. In November, Donald Trump won it by 15 points. But Tuesday, James Malone, a Democrat, managed to flip the seat.
This is turning into a theme for Democrats. This year already, the party scored a huge upset win in Iowa. There, Democrat Mike Zimmer won a state Senate election in a district Trump carried by 21 points in November. And earlier this month, Democrats in Minnesota won a contest for a state House seat, electing Doron Clark. In that case, that district was heavily Democratic and the party expected to win there — but I don’t think they expected to win by a whopping 70 points.
All of this good news for Democrats comes as we are awaiting three very big special elections next week. In Wisconsin, there is a race that will determine control of the state’s Supreme Court — and, by extension, the future of abortion rights and voting rights in that state.
It’s technically a nonpartisan race but Elon Musk’s super PAC has poured more than $10 million into supporting the candidate favored by Republicans. Musk’s PAC is also offering voters $100 if they sign a petition against activist judges, thereby helping identify people for the party’s “get out the vote” efforts.
Thanks to Musk, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race is now the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.
There are also two special elections in Florida next week, one race to fill the congressional seat vacated by Trump’s national security adviser and group chat enthusiast, Mike Waltz, and another race to fill the seat vacated by the president’s first pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz. (The one who had to withdraw his name following lack of GOP support in light of previous allegations of illicit drug use and sex with a minor — all of which Gaetz denies.)
Those are both considered heavily Republican districts. But in Waltz’s old district, Republicans are reportedly growing concerned after the Democratic candidate out-fundraised the GOP candidate by more than 10-to-1, which means that even though this is a very Republican district, Democrats are clearly putting up a fight.
Watch this space.