In some needed good news for the Democratic Party, the blue wave continues with the pickup of the Pennsylvania House’s 35th district by Austin Davis, who just won his special election bigly.
Clinton won PA #HD35 by a 58-39 margin in 2016. With 98% of precincts reporting, Democrat Austin Davis is winning it by a 74-26 margin tonight. Yet another serious Democratic overperformance to add to the tally.
— James Lambert (@hellofasandwich) January 24, 2018
Davis beat out Republican Fawn Walker-Montgomery in the race to fill the seat of Democrat Marc Gergely, who resigned in November is currently serving eighteen months of house arrest for his role in an illegal video gambling ring.
BREAKING: @davisfor35th has won the special election in HD35 for the Pennsylvania House. Congratulations, Austin! pic.twitter.com/HUfGrAXKbH
— DLCC (@TheDLCC) January 24, 2018
Add your name to reject Republican gerrymandering and draw new FAIR district lines!
Vowing to represent the working families of the Mon Valley, Davis ran on a platform of job growth, fighting for the funding that public schools deserve and expanding universal pre-K programs, and combatting the deadly opioid epidemic that has devastated rural Pennsylvania.
Davis formerly worked as a top aide to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and currently serves on several boards, including “the board of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh, the Allegheny County Jail Oversight board, the Shuman Detention Center advisory board and the Kane Foundation. ”
“Austin has spent his entire life serving others. He is the best choice to serve the Mon Valley as their state representative. When he’s elected by the voters in January, Austin will hit the ground running. There’s absolutely no learning curve with him!” wrote the chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, Nancy Patton Mills, when Davis’ candidacy was announced in November.
He’s got a lot of work ahead of him – as do we all. It is of vital importance that we take full advantage of the public disgust with President Trump and his coven of oligarchs to turn the entire nation blue – not just the House and the Senate, but statehouses, governorships, city councils, school boards, you name it.
We must declare that no race is too small and no seat too red for us to challenge. We’re going to take back our country, and we’re going to fight every step of the way.
