With nearly all votes counted in Lancaster County’s 36th Senate District special election, Democrat James Malone had a narrow lead over Republican Josh Parsons as of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.

The county’s elections website showed 100% of precincts reporting, with Malone getting 26,951 votes compared to Parsons’ 26,469. Libertarian candidate Zachary Moore had obtained 480.

County elections clerk Christa Miller said she did not know how many provisional ballots still need to be counted, though she confirmed that there are some. Also, she said, overseas ballots could still arrive in the next few days.

Still, Malone’s 482-vote lead may be too big to overcome.

Parsons, the Republican chair of the county board of commissioners, did not cede the race Tuesday night in a text to a reporter, though he said he expected he will “come up a little short” and was “disappointed by the numbers.” He noted his campaign was still reviewing the results.

Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg Borough, was cautiously optimistic Tuesday night, noting that if his lead holds it would surpass the 0.5% threshold to trigger an automatic recount in the race.

“This is wonderful,” Malone said. “We started from the bottom.”

The 36th has not had a Democratic state Senator since it moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster County in 1979.

Gov. Josh Shapiro celebrated Malone’s apparent win on X: “Tonight in Lancaster County, Pennsylvanians rejected a candidate who embraced the extremism and division coming out of DC. In a district carried comfortably by Donald Trump just a few months ago, they chose a better way forward – an embrace of competence, commonsense, and a desire to bring people together.”

Stephen Medvic, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, posted on social media Tuesday night: “Democrats just flipped a seat in a Trump +15 state senate district in Lancaster County, PA. Margin was less than 500 votes, and there will likely be challenges, but this is stunning.”

A remarkable turnaround

Just four months ago, voters in the same district gave Trump a resounding win, making Malone’s results Tuesday a sign of how local Democrats are seizing on national politics to make gains in bright red districts.

Nearly every measurable variable favored Parsons when polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

A majority of registered voters in the 36th are Republicans. Parsons also raised more money than Malone, and many of Pennsylvania’s top Republicans had backed Parsons’ candidacy.

But Democratic Party organizers had hoped discontent with Trump’s actions in the first months of his second White House term could help build momentum for Malone, as well as their candidates running in this year’s municipal elections.

Registered Democrats’ lead in early absentee ballot returns last week was an early sign for some that Malone could put up a fight in the historically red district.

Those returns attracted concerns from prominent Republicans like Elon Musk, who commented “!!” early Friday morning on an X post from GOP activist Scott Presler saying the party was losing the race.

Despite those worries, Parsons, a U.S. Army infantry veteran and former prosecutor, told LNP | LancasterOnline after casting his ballot at his polling place in East Hempfield Township on Tuesday morning that he was confident about his odds of winning the seat.

He said his team spoke to “tens of thousands” of voters on Monday alone. Despite historically low turnout in special elections, Parsons said he felt good about participation Tuesday.

The 36th District special election – the first for a Lancaster County state Senate seat in decades – was triggered after former state Sen. Ryan Aument resigned from the Legislature in December for a job leading U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s state offices.

The district covers 25 municipalities, stretching from Conoy Township to New Holland Borough and Manheim Township to Penn Township.

Tuesday also marked a special election in a bright blue state House district southeast of Pittsburgh to replace Rep. Matt Gergely, whose death in January left the House’s majority tied at 101 seats for each party.

Check LancasterOnline.com on Wednesday for more race results and analysis.

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