With the special election for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional district taking place tomorrow the race couldn’t be closer. According to a new PPP poll former Gov. Mark Sanford holds a single point lead over Democrats Elizabeth Colbert Busch. From PPP: PPP’s final poll of the special election in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District finds a [...]

Despite the strong Republican leanings of South Carolina’s 1st district it looks like Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch is on track to win the special election. According to a new PPP poll she holds a nine point lead over former Gov. Mark Sanford. From PPP: PPP’s newest poll on the special election in South Carolina finds [...]

Yesterday in the California 36th Congressional district, Democrat Janice Hahn beat Republican Craig Huey by a margin of 54.6% to 45.4% in the special election. Janice Hahn will become the newest member of the Democratic caucus taking the seat formally held by Democrat Jane Harman, who resigned in February. Early in the month there had [...]

In the NY-26 special election, Democrat Kathy Hochul managed to win a plurality victory despite the Republican leanings of the district. From a balance-of-power perspective, change in control of this one seat in itself should not have much impact on policy. Before the election, Republicans had a large but not veto-proof majority in the House, [...]

The early retirement of Rep. Jane Harman this year will set off a special election in California’s 36th district. The latest poll of the race has California Secretary of State Debra Bowen with a small lead over Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn. From Roll Call: The poll was conducted by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy [...]

Debra Bowen, the California Secretary of State who won a Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for de-certifying e-voting machines in the state, officially announced her run for Congress today to replace Jane Harman. She cited the “strong outpouring of encouragement” from across the district among supporters as contributing to her decision. Bowen was a local [...]

While Jared Loughner’s actions appear to be driven mainly by extreme delusion more than any form of political ideology, his failed assassination attempt is a disturbing reminder that a small group of violent actors at least hold the potential to dramatically change the political balance of power in this country with bullets and not ballots. [...]

Joe Manchin, the popular Democratic Governor of West Virginia, has come out in support of holding a special election this November to replace Sen. Robert Byrd, and Manchin is a likely candidate for the spot. Currently, the seat is set to be held by a replacement appointed by Manchin until 2012. From The Fix: Manchin [...]

It appears there is a potentially huge problem for Democrats going into the 2010 election cycle: young people simply are not voting. Part of Martha Coakley’s problem in Massachusetts was the incredibly low turnout among voters between 18-29. The findings of a Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement poll state: About [...]

Democrat Martha Coakley is not just down in most polls against Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts, but the trends in the poll numbers seem to be moving strongly against her. All polling firms that have tested the race repeatedly, except, ironically, Pajamas Media, have shown Coakley losing support and Brown gaining steam. Suffolk, Rasmussen, PPP, [...]