Democrat wins open state Senate seat in Lancaster County, PA after Trump carried the district during presidential election

Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg, defeated Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons in a closely contested race for Senate District 36. The special election was held to fill the remainder of former Republican state Senator Ryan Aument’s term. Aument resigned in December to become the state director for Sen. Dave McCormick, who took office at the beginning of this year.

According to Decision Desk HQ, Malone led Parsons by about 500 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted. The district, which leans conservative, voted for Trump by 57 percent in 2024, and Aument was re-elected unopposed in 2022.

The Democratic victory marks another upset for the party in recent months. In January, Democrats flipped a heavily Republican state Senate district in Iowa and retained the Westchester County executive seat in New York, The Hill reported.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called Malone’s win a “shockwave,” emphasizing that the district had a 23-point Republican voter registration advantage.

“In a district that went to Trump by 15 in 2024 and has a 23-point Republican voter registration advantage, Malone’s victory is a loud and clear rebuke to Republicans’ threats to the programs Pennsylvania families rely on – from Social Security and Medicaid to our public schools,” Martin said.

He added, “To protect working Americans, Democrats like Senator-elect Malone are competing everywhere, and in special elections throughout the country, we continue to overperform as voters join us in fighting back against the Trump-Musk agenda.”

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said Democrats are “on a roll” in state legislative races and warned that their recent success “should put Republicans on edge.”