Kentucky House gets a little less Republican

There was a special election for a Kentucky House seat in Bullitt County today to fill the vacancy caused by the suicide of far-right Rep. Dan Johnson. Shortly before his death, Johnson was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. This prompted former Gov. Steve Beshear to later write, "Racists, sexual predators, liars and criminals have no place serving in public office." The Republicans - in all their finite wisdom - picked Johnson's widow Rebecca Johnson to run for the special election. The Democrats selected former Rep. Linda Belcher, who Dan Johnson defeated in 2016.

Belcher was actually a very, very conservative Democrat during her time in the legislature. Then again, Donald Trump won the district 72% to 23%.

Today, Linda Belcher defeated Rebecca Johnson by a smashing 68% to 32% - chipping away at the Republican edge in the Kentucky House. This is a swing of 85 percentage points towards the Democrats - perhaps the biggest in a major election since Trump seized power.

Rebecca Johnson was tied to the legal woes of Dan Johnson's church and - like her late husband - made extremist Facebook posts. Already, Rebecca Johnson is crying "voter fraud!"

If the Republicans not only lose that seat but lose it by a 2-to-1 margin, how can they be expected to survive as a party?