Democrats picked up another two state legislative seats on Tuesday in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Phil Spagnuolo won the special election in New Hampshire, beating out Republican candidate Les Cartier by 8 percentage points with 54 percent of the vote to represent New Hampshire’s Belknap County District 3.
The two were vying to replace Republican State Rep. Donald Flanders after Flanders, 82, died in September.
Spagnuolo, a substance abuse recovery coach, expressed gratitude to his supporters on social media Tuesday night. “Thank you to everyone who helped on the campaign! I’m looking forward to representing Laconia in the @NHHouseofReps!” he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile in Connecticut’s special election Tuesday, Democrat Philip Young secured District 120, which had previously been held by Republican Laura Hoydick. Hoydick stood down to become mayor of Stratford, Conn.
The Democratic victories in New Hampshire and Connecticut mark the 38th and 39th state-based seats to flip from Republican to Democrat since President Trump assumed office at the beginning of 2017.
The momentum continues from contests in the past few weeks, in which Democrat Margaret Good won her special election for Florida’s state House District 72, as did Democrat Linda Belcher in Kentucky’s 49th House District.
However, the GOP wasn’t completely shut out on Tuesday.
Republican Robert Goforth won the special election for Kentucky’s 89th House District.
