Where Are Democrats Stomping Republican Incumbents Today?
Sad.
Democratic candidates keep racking up big numbers in special elections, even in places where Donald Trump won by substantial margins in 2024. And while we always remind you, “Great, Kid! Don’t get cocky!” when that happens, this has been happening with enough frequency that we also won’t blame you if you feel something like hope for the midterms, as long as you keep getting out there and doing everything you can in your local elections too.
New Hampshire: Dem Flips Seat In GOP District
In a special election for a vacant state House seat in New Hampshire yesterday, Democrat Bobbi Boudman won in a heavily Republican county, defeating Republican Dale Fincher 51 percent to 47 percent. That tally may not be a blowout, but it’s a huge change from November 2024, when voters went Republican by nearly 14 points. The district went for Donald Trump not only in 2024, but also in 2020, when he lost nationwide.
In fact, it was Ms. Boudman herself who got whomped by seven-term incumbent Rep. Glenn Cordelli by 13.6 points in 2024, then ran again in the special yesterday. Cordelli stepped down from office in November to move with his family to Texas. Boudman’s comeback win against Fincher was a 16-point swing in the vote, which the New Hampshire Union-Leader called a “stunning upset” (archive link).
We also liked the lede in the New Hampshire Journal, which started out, “In what Granite State Republicans hope is not a preview of November, Democrat Bobbi Boudman won …”
Was there a bit of schadenfreude? Could be! Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a press statement that “Tuesdays are becoming a headache for state Republicans across the country as they suffer one stunning defeat after another.”
As the NH Journal points out, there might be some echoes here from Trump’s first term:
In May 2017, early in President Donald Trump’s first term, Democrat Edith DesMarais won a Wolfeboro-area House seat that had not elected a Democrat in more than a century. Democrats hailed the victory as a political omen, while Republicans dismissed it as a fluke driven by low turnout and an energized Democratic base.
Then came 2018, when Democrats flipped both chambers of the New Hampshire legislature.
You can certainly find some excuses for Fincher’s dismal results, too, like the fact that he was a political newcomer compared to the long-serving Cordelli; Fincher made it onto yesterday’s ballot after winning a three-way primary in December — as a write-in candidate, at that. And in New Hampshire’s comically large state House, the largest legislative body in the USA, a one-seat flip won’t significantly alter the GOP majority of 216 to 176 over Democrats. Unless, of course, this is a portent of another 2017-style blue wave.
As in other races where Democrats have flipped previously Republican seats during the Trump II reign, voters really jumped at the chance to show the middle finger to Trump. Turnout for the special election in Carroll County yesterday was just shy of 39 percent, which is a lot for a special election.
Williams, the DLCC president, noted in her statement that this was the 28th legislative seat in “red and battlegound territory” to flip since Trump took office. She added, “These wins aren’t a flash in a pan — together, they tell an undeniable story of Democratic momentum as voters reject Republicans and blame them for soaring costs.”
Well, that and the fascism and the fucking ethnic cleansing campaign and now the war, let’s not forget those, goddamn it, national Dems, would you please stop limiting the campaign to “kitchen table issues” and also run on the fact that Americans are mad, mean mad, at Trump and his weird billionaire pals? Yeesh.
Georgia: The Replacin’ O’ The Greene
(Yes, we went there. Begorrah off.)
In yesterday’s ridiculously crowded Georgia special election for the congressional seat left open by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s January fuckoffening, none of the 17 candidates running won a majority, which wasn’t a surprise. The election was just for the remaining months of her term, meaning there will also be a May 19 primary to determine candidates for the general election in November.
Out of the three Democrats, 12 Republicans, and one each of a Libertarian and an independent, Democrat Shawn Harris got the largest portion of the vote, with 37.3 percent, while Republican Clay Fuller came in second with 34.9 percent. That mob of candidates was actually down from the field of 22 candidates who initially filed to run — we assume a fire marshal demanded some of them get out of the room.
Harris is a retired Army brigadier general who now raises cattle in the heavily rural red district; Fuller is a former District Attorney who got Trump’s endorsement; back in 2020, he came in fourth in the GOP primary that nominated Greene. Yes, really, she was only a national figure that long. Time has been out of whack the last decade, which feels like a century.
Harris and Fuller will go on to a runoff election on April 7, in which Fuller will have the clear advantage because instead of running against a slew of other candidates, he’ll be the only Republican standing in Georgia’s most heavily Republican district. Nonetheless, he framed the runoff in terms of apocalyptic fear, since that’s MAGA’s love language.
“I think the Republican Party is going to unite around us because they know that the Democrat is too dangerous,” [Fuller] said Tuesday night. “We can't have a Democrat representing Georgia 14. That would be a tragedy for our community, a tragedy for Georgia 14 and a tragedy for the MAGA movement.”
Harris refused to admit that he is Satan incarnate, and continues to argue that he’s the candidate for sane people, including independents and any disillusioned Republicans who might want to join him. He acknowledged that the district is “ruby red,” and that “it won’t turn blue, but it’ll definitely turn pink.”
Harris and the other two Democrats in the special election managed to get 40 percent of the vote, which is pretty impressive turnout for the opposition party in a district where the last two presidential elections only managed to get 31 percent. Don’t expect a miracle (or tragedy of historic proportions!!!) in the runoff, but it’s one more reminder that even in his reddest enclaves, Trump is slipping.
[New Hampshire Journal / Union-Leader (archive link) / AP / CBS News / Politico]
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OT: This is hilarious.
A statue depicting President Donald Trump and deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein embracing in a “Titanic” pose similar to Jack and Rose, two of the movie's characters, appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this week.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/03/11/statue-trump-epstein-jack-rose-titanic-national-mall/89099426007/
OT: Iran warning of $200/barrel oil.
Good. Bring it. The only way we are getting rid of Trump and the worthless MAGAs is if we are ALL uncomfortable.
Bring on the fucking depression so we can get the pain over as quickly as possible and root out these MAGA damnable chuds and then re-do a BUNCH of shit so that this cannot ever happen again.