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Democrats gained a state Home particular election in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night time, preserving the occasion’s slim majority within the carefully watched battleground state, The Related Press projected.
Within the race for the open seat within the one hundred and fortieth state Home District, Democrat Jim Prokopiak, a college board member in Bucks County, defeated Republican Candace Cabanas.
Prokopiak’s victory offers Democrats a slim 102-100 majority within the state Home, stopping one other tie within the chamber.
The occasion had a one-seat majority, 102-101, earlier than Democratic Rep. John Galloway resigned after he gained a judgeship in November.
His departure created a tie. However one other resignation Friday, by Republican Joe Adams, gave Democrats a contemporary 101-100 benefit.
Republicans management the state Senate, whereas Democrats maintain the governorship.
The win in Bucks County — a purple slice of the northern suburbs of Philadelphia — was hailed as optimistic information by nationwide Democrats, a few of whom had seen the competition as an early bellwether of the occasion’s fortunes amongst suburban voters forward of the 2024 election.
Even the Biden marketing campaign weighed in on the victory, touting it as proof that Bucks County voters would reject Donald Trump within the fall.
“With management of the state Home on the road, Pennsylvanians once more defeated Republicans’ anti-abortion agenda and voted for Jim Prokopiak, a Democrat who has stood up for girls and dealing individuals,” Biden marketing campaign supervisor Julie Chavez Rodriguez mentioned in a press release.
Heather Williams, the president of the Democratic Legislative Marketing campaign Committee, mentioned that “this victory is a promising signal for Democrats up and down the poll this yr — it’s clear that momentum is on our aspect.”
“Voters need representatives who defend their basic freedoms, which is why electing Democrats to legislatures throughout the nation is so necessary,” added Williams, whose group, the nationwide Democratic arm in command of funding candidates for state legislative races, invested within the contest.
In an interview forward of the race, Williams additionally mentioned that the race, “extra broadly,” was “concerning the bigger panorama for Democrats and our alternatives in 2024.”
Prokopiak had targeted on pocketbook points throughout his transient marketing campaign window, however he additionally often leaned into the function a Democratic majority within the state Home would play in defending abortion rights within the state.
In an interview forward of the race, he mentioned that the winner of the race “could be the deciding vote to cross” or block abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania.
Following his victory Tuesday night time, Prokopiak mentioned in a press release that voters had advised him through the marketing campaign that they “need assistance supporting their households” and “need management over their very own our bodies.”
“I’m dedicated to taking my conversations with voters to Harrisburg and making their goals a actuality,” he added.
Whereas the one hundred and fortieth District leans blue, it’s a part of a key swing county.
Galloway, who had held the seat for 16 years till he resigned, ran unopposed in 2022 and defeated his Republican opponent in 2020 by 20 factors.
Within the 2020 presidential race, Joe Biden gained Bucks County by simply over 17,000 votes, or by about 4.4 proportion factors, whereas in 2016, Hillary Clinton gained it by fewer than 2,000 votes. Biden’s margin of victory in 2020 and Clinton’s in 2016 had been bigger within the one hundred and fortieth District in these years.
The race is the seventh particular election within the state Home prior to now yr, with partisan management of the carefully divided chamber typically seesawing with the outcomes. Democrats gained 5 of the six particular elections in state Home seats final yr.
Prokopiak’s win means he’ll serve the remainder of the time period (by way of the top of the yr) and should run once more for re-election in November.
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