Democrats notched another attention-getting win on Tuesday, flipping a Georgia state House seat in a district that has leaned Republican in recent elections — a result party strategists are already pointing to as an encouraging sign ahead of next year’s midterms.
Democrat Eric Gisler defeated Republican Mack Guest IV in the special election for Georgia House District 121, according to Decision Desk HQ. The outcome is being widely viewed as an upset in a district where President Trump carried the vote by 12 points last year, underscoring how unpredictable low-turnout, off-cycle contests can be — and why both parties watch them closely for clues about energy, turnout, and persuasion in swingy pockets of the electorate.
Democrats had been signaling optimism about their chances in the race after a string of strong performances in November elections, including flipping two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, a development that rattled political observers in the state and suggested the party could be more competitive than expected even in Republican-favored terrain. That momentum appeared to carry into recent special elections elsewhere as well, with Democrats also citing an overperformance in a Tennessee special election earlier this month as evidence that their coalition is turning out at higher rates than usual for contests outside the general-election calendar.
Democrats also pulled off another surprising upset in the deep red state of Florida.
Democrats flipped the Miami mayor’s office, breaking GOP control for the first time since 1997. (RELATED: Democrats Win Miami Mayor’s Office After Nearly 30 Years Out Of Power)
Eileen Higgins, a Democrat and former Miami-Dade County commissioner, won Tuesday night’s runoff election for Miami mayor, defeating Republican-backed Emilio Gonzalez by more than 18 points, with almost all of the ballots counted.
The wins mark the latest boost for Democrats, who are coming out of better-than-expected elections in November and a strong showing in this month’s special House election in Tennessee. The party hopes that an energized base and a focus on issues like affordability will help them flip the House and potentially the Senate in next year’s midterms.
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They were never really true Republicans!