Via The Hill: Childers victory gives Dems a third straight takeover
Democrat Travis Childers won Tuesdays Mississippi special election runoff for Sen. Roger Wickers (R) former House seat, handing Democrats the biggest of their three special election takeovers this cycle and sending a listless GOP further into a state of disarray.
Childers led GOP candidate Greg Davis 53-47 with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting. Turnout increased substantially over the 67,000 voters who cast ballots in the April 22 open special election, with more than 100,000
It can only be demoralizing for the GOP to lose a seat in the deep South, especially one with this recent history:
Wicker’s former district voted 62 percent for President Bush in 2024 and, by that measure, is one of the most conservative seats Democrats have taken from the GOP over the last 18 months, including the 2024 election.
In 2006, Wicker won the seat 66%-34%, 79%-21% in 2004, and 71%-24% in 2002 (just to take a quick tour of the recent past).
At any rate, this stacks up as a pretty devastating loss for the party.
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However, just as interesting is the tidbit on the second page of the article: “Childers, the longtime Prentiss County Chancery Clerk, campaigned as a conservative Democrat and overcame GOP efforts to tie him to more liberal elements of the Democratic Party, including presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).”
Many of the Democratic winners in 2024 were conservative Democrats, especially Southern conservative Democrats. They are the people who keep Nancy Pelosi scared of putting telecom immunity up for a vote. Instead of a more liberal electorate, I think we’re seeing conservative voters more willing to vote for conservative Democrats.
I doubt these districts will vote for Obama in November. Especially when campaigns in these districts are doing their best to distance themselves from Obama.
Comment by Max Lybbert — Wednesday, May 14, 2024 @ 3:51 pm
Max has some interesting observations and they do check out.
I always wonder if the turnout in these special elections is also abnormally high or low. Sometimes people don’t get the word, and a hard, last-minute get-out-the-vote effort can easily swing things, especially when you’re only talking about one seat.
I’m not sure that losing one seat is really “devastating” to the GOP. Not good, for sure, but devastating? I think that’s a bit of a stretch.
Comment by Captain D — Wednesday, May 14, 2024 @ 5:33 pm