As Democrats enjoy one of their best election days of Trump’s second term, the GOP would be wise to take note as the midterms draw closer.
Following months of Democratic election victories, last night was especially brutal for Republicans:
- landslide win in Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race
- massive over-performance in MTG’s old seat
- win in Waukesha’s mayoral race
If Republicans aren’t nervous, they’re not paying attention.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-08T14:02:28.120Z
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/latest-election-results-give-republicans-new-reasons-to-reach-for-the-panic-button
It’s becoming an increasingly familiar phenomenon: Voters head to the polls on a Tuesday, and on Wednesday the public wakes up to headlines about surprising Democratic successes. This week was no exception, and it should send an even more dramatic signal to anxious Republican officials. Politico summarized:
Democrats just had one of their best election nights since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Again.
In Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, the Democratic-backed candidate sailed to a nearly 20-point landslide victory Tuesday in a battleground Trump carried less than two years ago. Meanwhile, a Georgia Democrat slashed Trump’s margin of victory by two thirds in the state’s reddest district despite losing the election — the most significant overperformance the party has seen across all seven House special elections so far this cycle.
There were three closely watched races this week, all worth considering in their particulars.
In Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race, the contest was technically nonpartisan, but Democrats backed Judge Chris Taylor, while Republicans supported Judge Maria Lazar. Taylor didn’t just prevail, she cruised to a 20-point victory in what is generally seen as one of the nation’s most evenly divided battleground states. Taylor even racked up victories in counties that Trump won easily as recently as 2024......
In Georgia’s congressional special election, Republican Clay Fuller, a former local prosecutor and an Air National Guard veteran, prevailed over Democrat Shawn Harris, a cattle farmer and retired Army brigadier general, by roughly 12 points. That might seem like good news for the GOP, but the details matter.....
That’s not what happened.
Republicans were concerned enough about the outcome that the party and outside groups aligned with the GOP invested more than $1.5 million into the race, and the race still shifted 25 points in Democrats’ direction — the largest such shift in any congressional special election since 2024......
These results come on the heels of a series of Democratic special election victories, including a streak in which the party has flipped 30 seats from red to blue since Trump’s return to the White House. Republicans, meanwhile, have not yet flipped any seats.
A couple of weeks ago, Fox News asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the special elections and whether he sees them as
“a canary in the coal mine” ahead of the midterm elections in the fall. “These special elections are a one-off,” the Louisiana Republican replied. “They’re anomalies.”
In the wake of the latest Democratic victories, the monthslong pattern constitutes quite an alarming “anomaly” for the Republican Party.
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