GOP Reverses Trends with Special Election Victories

WFB: The Republican Party has flipped four state legislative seats from Democratic control since the start of 2019, reversing political trends witnessed over the past two years.

On Tuesday, Republicans won a special election for the Kentucky state senate in a district where more than 60 percent of voters are registered Democrats, as reportedby The Hill. The Republican nominee, Philip Wheeler, bested his opponent, Democrat Darrell Pugh, by a 52-to-48 percent margin.

The special election for the eastern-Kentucky district followed the resignation of long-term incumbent Ray Jones, who was elected to a local judgeship. Jones, who served as the state senate’s minority leader prior to his departure, won reelection in 2016 with more than 70 percent of the vote. At the same time, President Donald Trump received nearly 80 percent of the vote in the district over former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

The race, which saw both candidates touting their pro-life, pro-coal, and pro-Second Amendment credentials, was widely painted as a referendum on incumbent Republican governor Matt Bevin. The GOP’s strong showing in the eastern-Kentucky bolsters Bevin, who has seen a rise in his unpopularity rating, as he prepares to seek reelection to a second term this year.

Wheeler’s victory in Kentucky builds upon gains the GOP has made in special elections for legislative districts in Minnesota and Connecticut in February. Overall, the trends reverse those witnessed since the end of the 2016 presidential campaign. In between 2017 and 2018, Democrats flipped more than 40 state legislative seats from Republican control through special elections. The gains occurred in purple states like Wisconsin and Missouri as well as deep-red states like Oklahoma and South Carolina.  more here