Following Senator-elect James Malone’s shocking upset victory in the special election for Pennsylvania’s 36th Senate District, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“Congratulations to Senator-elect James Malone on his shocking, historic special election victory in Senate District 36. In a district that went to Trump by 15 in 2024 and has a 23-point Republican voter registration advantage, Malone’s victory is a loud and clear rebuke to Republicans’ threats to the programs Pennsylvania families rely on – from Social Security and Medicaid to our public schools. To protect working Americans, Democrats like Senator-elect Malone are competing everywhere, and in special elections throughout the country, we continue to overperform as voters join us in fighting back against the Trump-Musk agenda. This is a shockwave to the system and the way Republicans have run our government. Republicans everywhere should be afraid.”

Democrats continue to win elections and overperform Republicans in 2025. Before tonight, in 11 of the 12 special elections this year, Democrats have overperformed the top of the 2024 ticket. Earlier this year, Democrats maintained control of the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate. In Iowa, Democrat Mike Zimmer flipped a district Trump won by 21 points, overperforming the top of the November ticket by 14 points while Democrat Nannette Griffin overperformed by 24 points. In March, Minnesota Dems held the Minnesota Senate and won a House seat. 

The best barometer we have of voters’ feelings of the Trump-Musk administration is how they actually vote. Special elections so far in 2025 indicate that voters are fed up and already looking for change. 

The next critical elections are in Wisconsin and Florida next week and the DNC is all hands on deck to build infrastructure everywhere we can.