Two special elections were held yesterday to fill the Congressional seats in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District and Virginia’s 1st CD, and happily, the Republicans won in each case.

Ohio 5

On September 5th, 2007, GOP Representative Paul Gillmor, 68, was found dead in his Arlington home in an apparent accidental trip-and-fall down the stairs.  In the special election to replace him, State Representative Bob Latta scored a 57%-43% win for the Republican over Robin Weirauch, the Democrat.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had been crowing about an impending upset in the past few days, but alas it was not so.  In a district where President Bush won 61% of the vote, now Congressman Latta received 57% in a low turnout special election.

Virginia 1

Republican Rep. Jo Ann Davis died on October 6, 2007, losing a tough fight with breast cancer.  GOPer Robert J. Wittman handily defeated Philip Forgit by a margin of 60.72% to 37.3%.  A solid Republican district, Mr. Wittman held a commanding fundraising advantage over his opponent and never looked back.

A Footnote

In both of these cases, Ohio and Virginia - each of them double the size of Connecticut - I am able to access election results quite literally hours after the polls closed from the Wood County Board of Elections in Ohio and the Virginia State Board of Elections.  In both cases, you can even get a breakdown by county - effectively equivalent to our towns.  Posting this same information, in a far less accessible and user friendly format would not be available from the Secretary of the State’s website for days after an election, to say nothing of a special election.  Were it that we had a more innovative Secretary of the State, what useful tools might we have? But alas it is not so.