National media outlets have taken notice of this week’s Democratic victory in a Missouri House district special election.
The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City
Political analyst and election forecaster Charlie Cook noted on MSNBC Wednesday night that Mike Revis’ win in eastern Missouri marked the 35th state legislative seat to flip from Republican to Democratic hands since President Trump took office.
Only four such elections have moved in the opposite directions. Cook said the current movement, which includes five-out-of-five statewide seats nationwide switching to Democratic control, is “a wave”.
CNN, Fox News, Huffington Post, The Hill and the New York Daily News were among the other national news outlets to report the Missouri election results, with most of them noting that Trump won the district by 28 points.
Revis win marks a 31-point swing towards Democrats in the Jefferson County district south of St. Louis since the Presidential election.
The national outlets mostly noted that the area is historically Democratic but has recently tilted Republican. Scott Dieckhaus, the former executive director of the Missouri House Republican Campaign Committee, blamed the loss on Governor Eric Greitens’ scandal in a Tweet following the Democratic victory.
I am going to say what no one else is right now – we (Missouri Republicans) just lost a MO House seat because of @EricGreitens and his refusal to put our party over his ego. @RobertKnodell and the @Missouri_HRCC team ran a hell of a race and deserved a win.
— Scott Dieckhaus (@sdieckhaus) February 7, 2018
Greitens is battling allegations of blackmail against a woman with whom he had an affair. He has admitted to the affair but has denied blackmailing the woman.
27-year-old Revis, a procurement manager at Anheuser-Busch Inbev, ran against 59-year-old Republican David Linton, who stressed his opposition to abortion rights and his support for the Second Amendment.  Revis steered clear of often divisive social issues, choosing instead to focus on education and health care.
The 97th district, which dips into the southern St. Louis County city of Fenton, includes a block of union members who historically vote Democratic.
Three other Missouri House seats in Tuesday night’s special election remained under Republican control. The GOP holds super-majorities by a roughly three-to-one margin in both the state House and Senate.
