Heavily Republican area turns against Trump and elects a pro-Bernie Democrat

In November, 60 per cent of voters in the 9th Assembly District of Long Island, New York voted for Donald Trump. Now, they have elected their first Democratic assembly member, Christine Pellegrino.

In the 9th Assembly District, mere miles from Mr Trump’s birthplace in Queens, New York, Republicans hold a 13-point registration advantage over Democrats. But Ms Pellegrino – who served as a delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention – pulled off a striking upset this week, beating her Republican challenger 58 to 42 per cent.

“We worked hard. I don’t know what happened,” her competitor, conservative Tom Gargiulo, said.

The 9th Assembly District is small, with a population only slightly over 120,000, and Ms Pellegrino - elected on Wednesday - will be just one of 150 different representatives in the New York State assembly. But the win is just one of several small victories Democrats have amassed in the months since Mr Trump took office.

In neighbouring Carroll County, New Hampshire, for example, Democrat Edith DesMarais recently beat Republican Matthew Plache in a state special election. Mr Trump won the district by seven points in November.

In April, voters in Normal Township, Illinois elected a Democrat to their board for the first time in 100 years. And in the nearby city of Kankakee, an African American Democrat is serving as mayor for the first time ever.

“Republicans should absolutely be concerned,” William F. B. O’Reilly, a Republican consultant, told The New York Times after Ms Pellegrino’s win.

These Democratic wins could be a reaction to a historically unpopular Republican president. Liberals have been energised by Mr Trump’s victory – as evidence by the protests after his election and marches during his inauguration – and are more likely to show up for low-turnout special elections.

Even after less-contentious presidential elections, in fact, the newly elected president's party usually loses seats in local and midterm elections.

But these wins are also likely a result of burgeoning Democratic fundraising efforts. Democrat John Ossoff, for example, famously raised more than $8m in his Georgia special election fight.

Ms Pellegrino benefited from this fundraising surge herself, raking in almost $350,000 from teachers’ groups during the campaign. The schoolteacher from West Islip, New York also drew support from the Democratic Party and Working Families Party.

In fact, Ms Pellegrino wasn’t even slated to be the Democratic candidate in the special election, until the Working Families Party stepped in to support her.

By the end of the campaign. Ms Pellegrino had hundreds of volunteers ringing doorbells for her around the district.

“Bold populism that puts working families’ issues front and center,” Bill Lipton, state director of the Working Families Party, said on Tuesday. “This is how we win in Trump country. This is the lesson for Democrats around the country.”