Special-election scraps do not a full ‘Trumplash’ make
President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Kuwait's Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, in Riyadh, May 21, 2017. Credit: AP
America right now watches all things political through the lens of the new presidency and its daily dramas.
This is likely to last for some time in an effort to gauge success and failure on the part of President Donald Trump and the GOP-run Congress.
But state and local elections vary widely depending on individual candidates, the stakes for the state parties and the regional issues.
The fierce race for Montana’s sole House seat took on national interest even before overwrought GOP hopeful Greg Gianforte was charged Wednesday with assaulting a news reporter.
The seat opened when President Donald Trump tapped Rep. Ryan Zinke as his secretary of the Interior. Gianforte was expected to defeat Democrat Rob Quist, but with a margin of victory short of Trump’s November win in that state.
In the race last month for the Georgia House seat vacated by new Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Democrat Jon Ossoff drew an unusually high 48 percent in a nonpartisan primary that heads into a one-on-one runoff next month.
In Kansas, the House seat formerly held by CIA Director Mike Pompeo went to Republican Ron Estes last month. Still, the race was unusually competitive for a solidly conservative district.
Degrees of pure “Trumplash” are hard to gauge — even if a president’s low approval ratings would seem to form a key part of the national mood.
On Tuesday, Long Islanders in the Ninth Assembly District elected Democrat Christine Pellegrino to succeed Republican Joe Saladino, who became Oyster Bay Town supervisor.
Trump won the district with close to 60 percent only a few months ago.
Tuesday’s results suggest a backlash at first glance.
But there are limits. Turnout is low in special elections. Teachers unions and test-boycott activists pushed Pellegrino. Party cross-endorsements played a role. And the stakes in Albany were light since Democrats already control two-thirds of the Assembly.
Midterm elections, as will occur next year, typically help the “outsider” party reassemble. Democrats were clobbered nationwide in state and federal races across the nation in 2010, the midpoint of Barack Obama’s first term.
These trends are fluid. Politics shift quickly. The upside for the GOP, and mixed news for Democrats, is that “Trumplash” has a way to go before packing a practical punch in Washington.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
