Oklahoma Democrat racks up 50-point overperformance in massive landslide

The huge win capped another strong night for Democrats in special elections

Oklahoma Democrat Amanda Clinton (in foreground) (credit: Amanda Clinton Facebook)

Democrats turned in another set of strong showings on Tuesday in the largest one-night batch of special elections so far this year, while Republicans appeared to fall just short of flipping a seat in New England.

The most dominant victory came in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Democrat Amanda Clinton, a public relations consultant and a member of the Cherokee Nation, cruised to a 69-point landslide over Republican Beverly Atteberry to defend the 71st House District. Since Kamala Harris carried this constituency by a 19-point margin, Clinton's win represented a 50-point overperformance—the second-largest this year.

Democrats also turned in overperformances in four Republican-held districts, including in the nearby 74th House District (13 points), and in three races in Florida (11 points in the 19th Senate District and 9 points in the 32nd House District, both in Brevard County, as well as 21 points in the 3rd House District in the panhandle).

The best result for the GOP came in Massachusetts, where Democrat Lisa Field declared victory in Bristol County's 3rd House District after election night returns gave her a 50.2 to 49.8 margin over Republican Larry Quintal.

Harris won the district by 6 points, but that was a big drop from 2020, when Joe Biden had carried it by 16. That shift gave Republicans hope that they could reclaim a seat they'd held from 2010 to 2020, but they came just 21 votes shy on election night.

Quintal, however, said he'd seek a recount, with the state GOP saying that some mail votes had yet to be counted.

Overall, in 29 special elections this year, Democratic candidates have run 16.4 points ahead of the 2024 presidential results on average, according to data compiled by The Downballot.

Correction: This post initially misidentified the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts as Amy Field. Her first name is Lisa.