Show Me GOP fear: Democrats flip deep red state legislative seat in Missouri special election

by Carolyn Fiddler for Daily Kos Elections

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Tuesday, Feb. 06, 2018 Tuesday, Feb. 06, 2018 at 7:15:10pm PST

Mike Revis, who won a seat in the Missouri state House on February 6, 2018 in a deep-red district. — Mike Revis and wife, Betty

Democrats have just pulled off their second upset of 2018. A Republican legislative seat in Missouri flipped from red to blue on Tuesday night as Democrat Mike Revis won House District 97. This district went heavily for Trump, giving him a 61-33 margin in 2016.

This seat had been in GOP hands for at least eight years, but on Tuesday, Revis captured it with a 52-48 victory—a massive 31-point swing from the 2016 presidential results.

Tuesday’s win in Missouri is far from the first Democratic flip in a red state this cycle, though. In 2017, Democrats picked up four seats in special elections in Oklahoma and another in Georgia. And just a couple of weeks ago, Democrats flipped a historically Republican seat in Wisconsin.

Overall, this victory is Democrats’ 35th red-to-blue state legislative flip this cycle, compared to just four for Republicans. The GOP’s ongoing inability to hold on to formerly safe seats is terrible news for the party in November’s elections at every level of the ballot. The reckoning is here, and no Republican is safe.