If Democrats are really riled up by the Trump administration, they have a chance to show it tomorrow in an obscure special election in Philadelphia.
The 197th state House district opened up earlier this year when Democratic Rep. Leslie Acosta resigned. She had secretly pleaded guilty to a federal embezzlement charge last March, and that didn’t stop her from concealing the conviction and running for re-election, but it did cause her colleagues basically to tell her she wasn’t welcome in Harrisburg. Her Democratic predecessor in the 197th had likewise resigned after being convicted in connection with a ghost employment scheme.
After she resigned, Democrats made the mistake of nominating someone who doesn’t live in the district — a no-no under Pennsylvania law. And last month, by the time a judge threw that candidate off the ballot, it was already too late to replace him with their now-preferred candidate, Emilio Vazquez.
The Green Party candidate was also denied ballot access after filing her paperwork a day past the deadline. That means the Republican nominee, Lucinda Little, will be all alone on the ballot in an overwhelmingly Democratic district — only 5 percent Republican by registration. The last time there was a contested election, in 2012, the Republican got about 5 percent of the vote.
Vazquez has been reduced to running as a write-in candidate. Given the math, it stands to reason that he should win in spite of this. That goes double if Democrats are really enjoying the surge in support that other recent special elections have suggested.
