Don't believe the Republican rebound hype

Republicans won Arizona's special election. They should still be very worried.

Debbie Lesko.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Matt York)

A few months ago, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) was forced to resign when he was accused of offering female staffers money in exchange for surrogacy and possibly sex. Apart from the revelation that yet another smarmy, "family values" conservative is apparently actually a drooling creepster, the resignation led to the latest in a long series of special elections, many of which have served as previews of the 2018 midterms.

In last night's race to finish Franks' term, Republican Debbie Lesko edged out Democrat Hiral Tipirneni by about 5 percentage points. In some sense, this is a good outcome for the GOP. At least they won! But any Republicans breathing a sigh of relief about avoiding another Alabama-style embarrassment should instead be feeling a fresh bout of panic about their November prospects.

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David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.