Democrats pick up two GOP-held legislative seats, the first flips of the Trump era. There'll be more

New York Democrat Christine Pellegrino (center)

On Tuesday night, Democrats flipped not one but two state legislative seats in special elections—and both came in deep red territory. In New Hampshire, Democrat Edie DesMarais defeated Republican Matthew Plache by a 52-48 margin in the state House’s 6th Carroll District, a seat Donald Trump won 51-44 last fall. Meanwhile, in the New York Assembly’s 9th District, Democrat Christine Pellegrino beat Republican Thomas Gargiulo 58-42, even though Trump romped to a 60-37 victory there in November.

This means that DesMarais moved the needle 11 points in the Democratic direction while Pellegrino did the same by an astounding 39 points. And while these are the first two seats to actually change hands since Trump’s election, Democrats have consistently outperformed the 2016 presidential results in special elections across the country.

Needless to say, if we can keep doing that, there will be many more victories to come. But this will only come to pass if we stay engaged and continue to do the hard work that these times demand of us. Winning is never automatic—far from it. There are plenty of special elections coming up fast on the calendar, including one on Thursday in Montana and one next month in Georgia, so let’s ride this momentum and get to it!

Please click here to make GOTV calls for Rob Quist in Montana, and click here to donate $3 to Jon Ossoff in Georgia.