Special elections fuel Democratic hopes in the House

Democrats are coming off a special election win in New York with a fresh burst of energy and a sense that the 2022 midterm elections might not deliver the kind of devastating blow to their numbers in the House that they have long feared.

Pat Ryan, a Democratic county executive, narrowly defeated Republican Marc Molinaro on Tuesday in the race for a vacant House seat in New York’s Hudson Valley that was largely seen as bellwether for the political climate heading into the fall.

Ryan’s win was, in and of itself, a massive boon for House Democrats eager to stave off an electoral thrashing in November. But it was also only the latest in a series of better-than-expected special election performances for the party and the latest sign that the political tides may be shifting in Democrats’ favor.