GOP candidate narrowly wins special election in OH12, an R+7 district - Polidicks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/hotly-contested-ohio-special-contest-tops-crowded-election-day-in-five-states/2018/08/06/7b74fa0c-9994-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html Despite Republicans dramatically outspending Democrats and a last-minute visit by Trump, Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson received just 1,754 more votes than Democrat Danny O’Connor, an elected county recorder, with thousands of provisional votes still outstanding. The margin of less than 1 percent came in a district that Trump won by 11 points in 2016 and where Republicans have held control since 1983. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats in the House to take control, and there are 72 Republican-held districts with partisan makeups that the Cook Political Report rates as the same as or more liberal than the Ohio district, which includes wealthy suburbs outside Columbus.

How gerrymandered is that district?

counting chickens before they hatch here, the provisional ballots and mail ins won't be done for 10 days

Its also up for reelection again in November, so its just a mock run if anything.

Thanks to to +1000 that voted Greens, hope your protest vote made you feel better.

They aren't forced, but not recognizing that we live under a first-past the vote system leads to your opposite ideological opponent winning and you getting nothing. It's dumb to vote third-party in America. Don't vote third-party until the political system changes - which will never happen if you keep splitting the left-wing vote.

Why do people keep regurgitating this idiotic nonsense that the 2 parties are the same? Does it really make you feel that much better that you voted for an incredibly useless party led by an anti vaxxer that's been good for nothing over the past few decades other than spoiling democratic elections?

Only people with nothing to really lose have the privilege of voting that way. They should think about more than just themselves. It's a selfish, useless vote. "A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system."

The problem I have is that you keep painting anyone that's not hard left a corporate shill, when there's plenty of good men and women on capitol hill that have been there for years that have been fighting hard and getting tangible results through their legislation and efforts. The worst part of this Bernie wave is that it's caused the ignorant to simply tar and trash the entire party as sellouts, save for the few candidates that have received the blessing of their savior.

In Montana the GOP literally was backing the Green party to split the vote.

Sure, Blame them by even what if all them vote Democrat. Will still not change a difference. 99,820 + 1,127 = 100,947 which 647 differences part by combing both hypothetical Democrat and actual Republican votes together.

Blame the lack of runoff voting

Fitting that the first and last special elections before the midterms were tiny GOP wins in previously dominated districts.

My dad was driving me to pick up my car and was listening to the local repub propaganda news station. They were constantly giving themselves handjobs for going 5 for 5. Meanwhile they ignore how almost every state was flipped and its balls deep in republican territory.

Or any multi-party favor voting system of that matter, sadly.

People blaming Green Party votes for the win tonight are ignorant. https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1027076312589103104

maybe the democratic party needs better policies if this guy really spoiled the race

Ohio Republicans: "We appear to have won a once-safe seat by 0.9%. This is yet another close race." Trump: "VICTORY! PROOF NOVEMBER WILL BE A RED WAVE!!" http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/08/trump-predicts-giant-red-wave-claiming-fresh-victory-streak-for-endorsed-candidates.html We already know Russia is going to try and meddle with the midterm elections and the federal government is deliberately unprepared. If the November elections result in a major Republican win in the house, the "red wave" Trump is claiming will happen, it will be exposed that the Helsinki meeting, where nobody but the two Presidents and one translator each were present and the one where weeks later nobody including the Director of National Intelligence knows what was said, and the letter from Trump that Rand Paul just delivered to Putin will be the communications confirming the quid pro quo for the interference. Whatever he's thinking, he can't keep it in his pants. If he knows to expect Russian 'help', he can't resist bragging about how great everything's going to be when the House turns red against all expectations.

I don't understand the "would vote GOP if forced" thing. How would they be forced to vote for another party if they already voted Green? And why would a Green vote GOP over Democrat, or abstaining completely?

"If the democratic candidate is literally a convicted pedophile. I would also accept 'a friend of Hillary Clinton's'."

Well a course you think it's not (and especially not in this site), but however everytime Green candidate getting hundreds to few thousand votes if Democrat candidate occasionally loss if that candidate did not enough votes. Since after 2016 election, there more people in Twitter or Facebook literally accusing them as such.

GOP and Trump have been wildly celebrating and boasting about this victory today, even having released a boastful campaign ad about how much they're "WINNING!" In a state that has been deep red for decades, they had to deploy the entire GOP, the President, and a comparatively massive amount of campaign funds to win by a fraction of a percent against an unknown grassroots Democrat. While doing all that and losing would have been the worst case scenario, winning by such a shockingly small margin in what was once considered a "no contest" election is anything but a good sign for Republicans in the upcoming midterms. I'm not counting on hype for a "Blue Wave," but any Republicans celebrating this victory as a good omen are failing to realize just how hard a fight they're facing in six weeks.

They are privately panicking https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nothing-bodes-well-lackluster-elections-reignite-debate-over-trumps-midterm-role/2018/08/08/fa232bb0-9b1c-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html

It isn't a guarantee they'll win either, mail in votes are still being counted, right?

ya there is over 8000 mail in and provisional votes to be counted. these usually break democrat and in a race this close that probably is enough