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Maddow: The wheels are already coming off Trump’s House majority March 9, 2026 / 03:13
Dems score upset win in New Hampshire special election, giving GOP fresh reason to worry
The more Democrats win closely watched races, the more Republicans should be concerned about the 2026 midterms.
Mar. 11, 2026, 8:28 AM EDT
By Steve Benen
Heading into Tuesday’s state legislative special election in New Hampshire, Republicans had reason to be cautiously optimistic. The race was in a district that Donald Trump won by 9 points in 2024, and the Democratic candidate had already run and lost twice before by wide margins.
And yet, the contest turned into the latest in a series of red-to-blue flips. NH Journal reported:
In what Granite State Republicans hope is not a preview of November, Democrat Bobbi Boudman won Tuesday’s special election for Carroll County District 7, defeating Republican Dale Fincher 51 percent to 47 percent in a district that voted Republican by more than 13 points just 16 months ago.
The New Hampshire Union Leader called the outcome “stunning” and a “big upset” given the Republican advantage in the local district.
In a press statement, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams boasted, “Tuesdays are becoming a headache for state Republicans across the country as they suffer one stunning defeat after another.”
And therein lies the point: For Democrats, 2026 is off to a very encouraging start.
In January, two of the party’s candidates won lopsided victories in two special elections in Minnesota, the first two contests of the year, restoring the state House to an even partisan split.
Soon after, in Texas, Republicans invested a considerable amount of resources to keep a state Senate seat in the suburbs of Fort Worth. They failed: Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a union leader and an Air Force veteran, won a double-digit victory in a district Trump won by 17 points in 2024. (The president personally tried to rally support for the GOP candidate, but then pretended he didn’t after she lost badly.)
In early February, Republicans in Louisiana saw a unique opportunity to flip a state legislative seat from blue to red — in a district Trump won by 13 points — but when voters had their say, the Democratic candidate prevailed by 24 points.
Continue/Read Original Article: Dems score upset win in New Hampshire special election, giving GOP fresh reason to worry
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