Special Elections: After a two-month hiatus since the last legislative special election pitting a Democratic candidate against a Republican one, there are two on tap for Tuesday, one in Pennsylvania and one in South Carolina.
PA-HD-85: This is a Republican district in central Pennsylvania located in the Lewisburg area. This seat became vacant after former state Rep. Fred Keller was elected to the U.S. House in a special election earlier this year. As always in Pennsylvania special elections, the candidates were chosen by the parties. (Helpfully, Ballotpedia recently published a list explaining the selection methods for nominees in each of the 25 states that hold special elections for legislative vacancies.)
The Democratic nominee is physician Jennifer Rager-Kay and the Republican is East Buffalo Township Supervisor David Rowe. Rager-Kay was the Democratic nominee for this seat in 2018, where she was defeated by Keller 68-32. While Rager-Kay has sought to strike a moderate tone on issues such as gun safety, this will once again be a difficult matchup for her in a district Donald Trump carried 65-32 and Mitt Romney won 63-35.
SC-HD-19: This is a Republican district located in the Greenville area. This special election is the culmination of a chain of events that was set off by former state Sen. William Timmons’ election to the U.S. House last year. Following the midterms, Republican state Rep. Dwight Loftis, who had represented this seat since 1996, defeated Democrat Tina Belge in a surprisingly competitive special election earlier this year to take over Timmons’ state Senate seat.
Now, Democrat Carrie Counton and Republican Patrick Haddon are facing off to replace Loftis. Counton is a higher-education academic coach and Haddon is the former Greenville County GOP chair. Counton ran for this seat in 2018, losing to Loftis 61-39, while back in 2008, Haddon was a candidate in the Republican primary for the state Senate seat Loftis now represents.
As we’ve seen in other special elections that have taken place in early presidential primary states, the Democratic nominee here is receiving help from at least one White House hopeful, though the bigger names don't appear to have gotten involved. Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton stumped for Counton in June and will be campaigning with her the district on Election Day..
Counton has also attacked Haddon for an ethics violation he committed in the early 2010’s. On multiple occasions in 2011 and 2012, while a board member of the Parker Sewer and Fire District, Haddon had maintenance work performed on his personal vehicles in the district’s repair shop. Haddon admitted wrongdoing and was fined for the violation.
This is a deeply Republican district that supported Trump 60-35 and Romney 63-35.