On Tuesday, Democrat Lauren Arthur won the special election for Missouri state Senate District 17, giving Team Blue its 42nd state legislative pickup of the cycle.
Arthur, a former teacher and current member of the state House, won the district 60-40 percent (with 90 percent of precincts reporting as of press time), a 24-point swing from Donald Trump’s 49-45 percent victory here in 2016.
Arther is a staunch progressive who supports government ethics reforms, equal rights for Missouri’s LGBTQ residents, and local autonomy for cities that want to raise their local minimum wage or enact gun-safety ordinances.
Tuesday’s special election took place in the shadow of the recent resignation of disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens, and it may foreshadow the impacts of the Republican’s misdeeds on his party in upcoming elections. Arthur, for one, absolutely linked her GOP opponent to Greitens and the “corrupt” state capitol in a campaign ad—a tactic other Democratic campaign are likely to adopt for the fall.
This victory is Democrats’ second red-to-blue flip in Missouri this cycle; in February, Democrats picked up a state House seat.
You can track this and every other legislative special election flip of the cycle on the Daily Kos Special Elections Results tracker.