Republicans keep losing in Pennsylvania

Republicans in Pennsylvania suffered a fresh electoral defeat on Tuesday, when Democrat Lindsay Powell won the special election for the vacant 21st District House seat, restoring her party’s wafer thin majority in the state House of Representatives.

Erin Connolly Autenreith, the Republican candidate, conceded defeat on Tuesday evening after receiving about 34 percent of the vote, against over 65 percent for Powell, with 96 percent of precincts reporting. The Democrat victory will restore the party’s narrow 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania House, though a spokesman for Allegheny County said the result might not be certified until early October.

Tuesday’s result is just the latest in a string of defeats for Republicans in Pennsylvania, who in November 2022 lost both the state’s gubernatorial election and a high stakes U.S. Senate battle, where John Fetterman defeated the Donald Trump-supporting TV doctor Mehmet Oz. Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020, is likely to be a key swing state at the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

Conceding defeat on Tuesday evening, Autenreith commented: “I ran a good race with limited funds, and you have not heard the last of Erin Connolly Autenreith.” On January 6 2021 Autenreith was in Washington D.C. listening to Trump’s speech at his “Stop the Steal” rally, preceding the storming of Congress, but said she left the capital before the disorder, according to PoliticsPA.

Reacting to her win Powell, who works for local nonprofit InnovatePGH, commented: “Our district is made up of hardworking families that deserve someone who will fight in Harrisburg to deliver good jobs, dignified pay, safe housing, strong schools and beautiful community assets.

“I’m ready to get to work with our community and for our community to fight for the rights, health and freedom of all of our neighbors.”

The special election was called after Democrat Sara Innamorato, who used to hold the seat, resigned to focus on running for the Allegheny County Executive.

Republicans still have a majority of the Pennsylvania State Senate, meaning the state legislature will remain divided after Powell’s win making it tough for either main party to pass contentious legislation.

Fetterman’s victory over Oz in November 2022 flipped a seat which had been loyally Republican for decades. Combined with Raphael Warnock’s runoff victory over Herschel Walker in Georgia in December, the result meant the Senate has 51 Democrat aligned members versus 49 for the GOP and helped stop a much anticipated “red wave,” though the GOP did seize the House.

The month also saw Democrat Josh Shapiro beat GOP rival Doug Mastriano decisively, by 57 percent of the vote to 42 percent, to be elected as governor of Pennsylvania.

Since his election Fetterman has chosen to wear casual clothes whilst walking around Capitol Hill, though he has a suit for the Senate floor, leading former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley to brand him a “revolting slob.”

Newsweek has contacted the Pennsylvania Republican Party for comment by telephone.