Democrats continued their run of successes in special elections by flipping a state House seat in Georgia Tuesday, .
The Democratic victory, in a district that voted for President Donald Trump by about 12 percentage points last year, comes ahead of next year’s critical midterms, when Georgians will vote in closely watched races for Senate and governor. Gisler won 51% of the vote a swing of 14 points.
Eric Gisler, a Democrat who owns a local olive oil store, defeated Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest in the 121st House District, in the northeastern part of the state, near the college town of Athens.
Between regularly scheduled elections in Virginia and New Jersey and special elections held on newly redrawn maps in Mississippi, Democrats flipped about 20 state legislative seats on Election Day last month. Those victories came after Democrats flipped two seats in Iowa and one in Pennsylvania during special elections earlier in the year.
Republicans still control a significant majority in the Georgia House, but Tuesday’s results come just a month after Democrats won two statewide elections to flip two seats on the state’s Public Service Commission.
In another race, GOP candidate prevailed 27.4% to Democrat 26.7%