Elon Musk, a big loser on Tuesday

Tuesday was a good day for the Democratic Party. Their candidates either won, or at least exceeded expectations and overcame Republican obstacles, in various special elections around the country.

In Wisconsin, an important battleground state which Donald Trump won by less than one point in 2024, Democratic state Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford won her election, despite Elon Musk pouring millions into the race for the Republican candidate. Musk even publicly handed out $1 million dollar checks to two voters to show off his investment in the race. The result was thus a blow to Musk, to Trump (who had also endorsed the Republican candidate), and to the idea that money alone can win elections.

In Florida, Democratic candidates did better than expected in two U.S. House special elections. In the 6th District, which the Republican won by 33 percent last November, Democratic candidate Josh Weil narrowed that gap by more than half, to 14 points. Likewise, in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, which the Republican candidate (incumbent Matt Gaetz) won by 32 percent in 2024, Democratic candidate Gay Valimont lost to her Republican rival by 14.6 points. Given that Florida has millions of seniors and that Trump and the Republicans are planning dangerous cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, these and other Florida Congressional districts may become even more competitive for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

While outright victories would have been delightful in these Florida Congressional races, that was never expected in such deeply Republican districts. Nevertheless, it’s likely that Republicans are running scared for 2026. How do we know? One good indicator is that, last week, Trump had to withdraw the nomination of Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador and send her back to her New York seat in the U.S. House, out of fear of losing the razor-thin Republican House majority in 2026 or before.

Photo by Paul (Becker1999), used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/BkIGTv

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Last night, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) held a conference call featuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, about efforts to pass a Constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions which have flooded our elections with “dark money.” Also on the call were Rob Weissman of Public Citizen, Marge Baker, who is Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, Larry Cohen, the President of CWA, and Bob Master, CWA’s District 1 (Northeast) Political Director.