Jennifer Daler

In one sense, picking up one seat out of the 400 in New Hampshire's state House isn't that significant. But when it's one of the most Republican district in the state and is a district shared with the far-right Speaker of the House, it starts looking significant.

That's what happened Tuesday, with former state Rep. (and Blue Hampshire blogger) Jennifer Daler soundly defeating her Republican opponent, Peter Kucmas. She carried all five towns in the district, taking 59% of the vote. This wasn't a low-turnout special election victory, either: both candidates received more votes than expected. Moreover, last week, WMUR political director James Pindell wrote:

Even Speaker O'Brien says the election will serve as a referendum on him and a reaffirmation that voters meant what they meant in November.

So much for that reaffirmation.

The DLCC suggests that there's a trend emerging:

Last night’s win was the third Democratic special election victory in as many weeks. Margins of victory ranged from a solid 54 percent in the Democratic pickup of Wisconsin’s 94th Assembly District on May 3 to the crushing 2-to-1 win on May 10 in a Maine seat last won by a 75-vote margin. Two victories in two weeks may have been a coincidence, but three special election wins in states with GOP-controlled statehouses clearly demonstrates a trend of voters rebuking the extreme right-wing agendas pushed by Republicans.

No matter how strong the trend, it would take one hell of a lot of special elections to undue November's damage. But in the mean time, with a Republican attempt to overturn Democratic Gov. John Lynch's veto of a so-called right to work bill looming, the New Hampshire state House has one more pro-worker vote.