Democratic performance is improving in a slew of special elections, as a weary party looks for signs of hope

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : Stefanik represents an upstate New York district that Trump carried by 21 points last year.
62% : And the president hinted that Democratic strength in the off-year contests played a big role in his decision to pull Rep. Elise Stefanik's nomination to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations.
58% : Trump carried his district by 16 points in November.
54% : That dynamic has helped Republicans perform much more strongly in presidential years -- with Trump on the ballot.
54% : Trump carried Zimmer's district by 25 points in November.
49% : "I was cautious about overreacting to the first couple of specials that popped up, but [Tuesday] was a pretty clear sign that people have watched what Trump and Musk have done to our country in three short months" -- and they're "pissed," said Brendan McPhillips, a former adviser to Harris' campaign.
48% : "I think they just got cocky, and they thought that they could run anybody that they wanted with an R by their name, and they were going to win," he said, adding he was personally unaware by just how many points Trump had just won the district by.
46% : And in the high-profile Wisconsin state Supreme Court race that earned the most national attention of any of the contests held so far this year, liberal-leaning candidate Susan Crawford defeated conservative-leaning candidate Brad Schimel by 10 points, just months after Trump beat Harris by roughly a point in the presidential battleground.
45% : It might actually even be genius from Trump to let Elon take all the arrows and then just drop him when it starts hurting his own numbers.
41% : " Jack Doyle, a Democratic operative who's worked on races in Pennsylvania, said that even though Democrats have done well in special elections in recent years, he feels the recent results offer "proof that the backlash against Trump is starting much earlier than a usual presidential term."
40% : " But special elections are difficult to use as a true gauge of voter sentiment on Trump.
36% : Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist and media personality, called on Trump boosters to "realize and appreciate that we are the LOW PROP party now." "The party has been remade," Kirk tweeted.
35% : "Going after Elon works when he inserts himself into the race proactively but it seems like they're going to make the mistake of running against Elon now instead of Trump.
33% : Democrats also made Musk a central target of their messaging at a time when his favorability ratings are considerably lower than Trump's.
31% : " Trump advisers said they were not concerned by Tuesday's results.
28% : The GOP's turnout dynamic, meanwhile, has Republicans still searching for answers on how to be more competitive when Trump is not on the ballot.
23% : And as Trump spent Wednesday announcing sweeping and steep global tariffs -- fulfilling a key campaign pledge on trade but risking a spike in prices in the process -- Doyle said there's further risk for Republicans.
12% : " Yet, the senior Senate GOP aide said that while Republicans still need to figure out how to get their voters engaged without Trump on the ballot ahead of next year's midterm elections, they see Democrats making a mistake by zooming in too much on Musk. "Dems also continue to have a weird issue where they somehow can't attack Trump directly," this person said, noting last year's focus on Project 2025 and the more recent attacks aimed at Musk.

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