MANHEIM, Pa. (AP) — Democrat James Andrew Malone narrowly won a special election for a Pennsylvania state Senate seat in a stretch of Republican-leaning suburbs and farming communities, scoring an upset in a territory that a Democrat hasn’t represented in the chamber for 136 years.
Malone’s victory over Republican Josh Parsons in Tuesday night’s special election might provide a light in the darkness for Democrats struggling to unify around a strategy to counter President Donald Trump — and who are at each others’ throats publicly.
A top state Senate Democrat, Sen. Vince Hughes of Philadelphia, said Malone’s victory shows the value of Democrats talking to people about protecting Social Security and health care access amid the chaos and pain that Trump’s administration is sowing.
“As much anger that people have, they have anxiety too,” Hughes said. “And last night’s election sends a message that people are going to respond.”
Sharif Street, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party chairman, said Trump’s performance in office certainly helped Malone — and the GOP’s excuses that they got beaten in voting by mail is just “another way of saying that ‘people voting by mail voted against them.’”
A Democratic flip of that district is a major upset. Democrats say that Trump won the district by 15 percentage points in November’s presidential election over former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump went on to win the battleground state of Pennsylvania by almost 2 points.
A Democrat last represented Lancaster County in the Senate in 1889, Democrats say. A Malone victory narrows GOP control of the state Senate to a 27-23 seat advantage.
http://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-democratic-party-donald-trump-election-094e907bd9af0d55a3ac76bb5e22d17c?
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