Democrat Edie DesMarais wins New Hampshire special election in solidly Republican district

| 9:41 pm EDT May 23, 2017
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Even as Donald Trump’s exploding Russia scandal and bizarre overseas trip have dominated the national headlines, causing more headaches for the Republican Party by the day, a key piece of local news went under the national radar tonight in New Hampshire. In a state legislature special election, Democrats managed to flip a seat in a district that had been strongly Republican.

Democratic candidate Edie DesMarais won today’s special election in Wolfeboro, which the Democratic Party of New Hampshire says is the first time a Democrat has ever been elected in that particular district (link). Moreover, this is a district that was won handily by Donald Trump just six months ago.

This points to Trump’s catastrophic time in office, along with his scandals which worsen by the day, having already caused a number of his own votes to sour on him. It’s not clear whether Trump voters in Wolfeboro decided to vote Democrat today or (more likely) just stayed home. But what it clear is that the Trump Republicans in the district didn’t vote Republican today.

This further points to the possibility of numerous seats being up for grabs for the Democrats in the 2018 midterms that would traditionally be too Republican-leaning to be competitive. It’s also potentially a good sign for Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff, who is running for U.S. Congress in a special election in a somewhat red district in Georgia, with voting set to take place in June.