There are three special elections on Tuesday, headlined by a key state Senate race in Pennsylvania.
PA-SD-37: This is a Republican district located in the western and southern suburbs of Pittsburgh. This vacancy was created by former state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler’s election to the U.S. House.
The candidates were selected by the parties. The Democrat is Navy veteran Pam Iovino while the Republican is businessman D. Raja. Iovino is not new to Pittsburgh-area politics: She was in the running to be the Democratic nominee in the 2018 special election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District but was passed over for eventual winner Connor Lamb. Raja also has political history in this area. He ran for this seat once before in 2012, losing to Democrat Matthew Smith 53-47.
This race is the first of its kind on the 2019 special election calendar. The special election slate this year has largely been comprised of safe seats on either side, with Democrats holding a few key seats in difficult races. However, four of the year’s five flips so far have gone for Team Red, while an independent picked up one seat from the GOP. This race therefore marks the first true pickup opportunity for Democrats this cycle.
Though the 37th has been red turf in the last two presidential elections, the trends have gone the right way for Democrats: After supporting Mitt Romney by a 56-43 margin, the district went for Donald Trump by a narrower 51-45 spread.
Democrats also fared very well here last year. Gov. Tom Wolf rolled to a 57-41 victory while Sen. Bob Casey racked up a 55-43 win. Lamb, meanwhile, carried the 37th (which is located almost entirely inside the old 18th Congressional District) by a 56-43 margin in his special election win. In addition, Democrat Lindsey Williams flipped the adjacent (and demographically similar) 38th State Senate District, beating Republican Jeremy Shaffer 50.3-49.7.
The composition of the Pennsylvania Senate stands at 26-21 in favor of Republicans with three vacancies, including this one. The other two are safely red, but if Iovino can flip the 37th, Democrats will only need to pick up three more seats next year to take control of the chamber. That's why both sides have spent seven figures on this race, though almost all of the GOP spending has come thanks to extensive self-funding from Raja.
ME-HD-52: This is a Democratic seat located in the Bath area. This seat became vacant after former state Rep. Jennifer DeChant resigned in February to take a private sector job. The candidates in this race were chosen by the parties: The Democrat is Bath City Councilman Sean Paulhus and the Republican is Navy veteran Kenneth Sener. Christopher Hallowell is also running as the Libertarian candidate. This is a solidly blue district that voted for Hillary Clinton 59-34 and Barack Obama 64-33.
MS-HD-101: This is the runoff for an election that took place in March. The candidates are businessman Kent McCarty and Steven Utroska. While special elections in Mississippi are officially nonpartisan, this is a strongly Republican district and both candidates say they would caucus with the GOP in the state House. The most interesting aspect of this race are the ages of the candidates: Regardless of the outcome, a millennial will be representing this Hattiesburg-area seat as McCarty is 26 and Utroska is 31.