Good News and Bad News from Last Night’s Elections

Brian Hagedorn and Lisa Neubauer, photograph courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Last night, Pennsylvania, Chicago, and Wisconsin held elections. Democrats won two of them, but while they have every right to rejoice, they should put the champagne back on ice because the third one (which is still undecided) may come back to haunt us if the conservative candidate wins.

First, the two victories, and then the one we should worry about:

PAM IOVINO ELECTED TO PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE

Pam Iovino, photograph courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Democrat Pam Iovino made the first red-to-blue flip of the 2019–20 cycle by winning a Senate seat in Pennsylvania’s 37th district last night, putting the party within three seats of flipping the chamber. Iovino, who previously lost the 2018 primary to now-Congressman Conor Lamb, is a former navy lieutenant who became the first female commander at Toldeo’s Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center in 2003, when she was appointed by President George W. Bush. Her victory is a triumph not just for her, but for Pennsylvania grassroots organizers, who ran an excellent get-out-the-vote campaign.

LORI LIGHTFOOT ELECTED MAYOR OF CHICAGO

Lori Lightfoot, photograph courtesy of CNN

Lori Lightfoot made history twice over by becoming the first African-American woman and the first lesbian Mayor of Chicago. She ran against another black woman, Toni Preckwinkle, a match-up that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago not just because of civil rights, but because they both defeated Bill Daley, the son and brother of two former Chicago Mayors, in the primary. Lightfoot, who had never held political office, defeated Preckwinkle in a landslide, running as an outsider untouched by the city’s notorious political corruption. In her victory speech, she told her supporters that “You did more than make history…You created a movement for change.”

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT RACE HEADING TO A RECOUNT