Democrat James Malone is projected to win a special election for Pennsylvania’s 36th state Senate district on Tuesday night, narrowly triumphing in a district President Donald Trump won by 15 percentage points in November.
Malone’s victory over Republican Josh Parsons is a significant upset, and an encouraging sign Democrats’ coalition of highly engaged, highly educated voters continues to give them an advantage in low-turnout but crucial special elections. It’s also an early but small sign of growing voter anger with Republicans.
Before the election, Malone told local media that voters in the county were frustrated with the role billionaire Elon Musk has played in the Trump administration.
“Josh Parsons might be OK with that, but I’m not,” Malone told Lancaster Online. “On Tuesday, you’ll get to make the choice between more Musk, or Lancaster values.”
Malone led Parsons 50% to 49%, a lead of less than 500 votes, according to results posted by the Pennsylvania Secretary of State. The district includes most of Lancaster County, a rural county in the south central part of the state best known for its Amish population.
Malone is the mayor of East Petersburg, a small borough in Lancaster County. Parsons is a Lancaster County commissioner. The two were running to fill a seat vacated by Republican Sen. Ryan Aument, who took a job working for freshman U.S. Sen. Dave McMormick.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who recorded a robocall encouraging Democrats to vote for Malone, celebrated the victory on social media.
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“Tonight in Lancaster County, Pennsylvanians rejected a candidate who embraced the extremism and division coming out of DC,” Shapiro wrote. “In a district carried comfortably by Donald Trump just a few months ago, they chose a better way forward — an embrace of competence, commonsense, and a desire to bring people together.”
Malone’s victory shrinks the GOP advantage in the state Senate to 27-23. In a separate election outside Pittsburgh, the Democratic candidate ran well ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ margins in a Democratic seat to maintain the party’s narrow 102-101 advantage in Pennsylvania’s state House.
Democrats similarly flipped a heavily Republican state Senate seat in Iowa in January. Some Democratic operatives were looking at Malone’s victory as a sign the party could be competitive in a tentatively scheduled congressional special election in upstate New York this summer.