'Final Epstein vote secured': Here are 3 crucial election takeaways

24 September

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One to depart for Washington, at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S., September 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo

On Tuesday, September 23, some special elections were held in the United States — including a U.S. House of Representatives race in Arizona's 7th Congressional District and a Georgia State Senate race.

The U.S. House race was a landslide victory for progressive Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who, according to the Associated Press (AP), was ahead of Republican Daniel Butierez by roughly 39 percent after about 87 percent of the votes had been counted. A third Latino in the race, Green Party candidate Eduardo Quintana, picked up around 1 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, in Georgia's 21st Senate District, MAGA Republican Jason Dickerson defeated Democratic attorney Debra Shigley. Dickerson attacked Shigley as a "woke liberal," and that messaging worked in the heavily GOP district.

In a listicle published on September 24, The Hill's Caroline Vakil lays out three "key takeaways" from these special elections: (1) "Final Epstein vote secured," (2) "Adelita Grijalva takes up father's progressive mantle," and (3) "Democrats fall short in Georgia, but overperform."

"Grijalva's win Tuesday night means lawmakers pushing for the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein now have enough votes in the House to move forward," Vakil explains. "Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) will clinch enough signatures on their discharge petition once Grijalva is sworn in, which will force a vote on the House floor over the Justice Department's release of the files…. The Trump Administration's handling of the Epstein files has angered Republicans and Democrats alike, particularly after the Justice Department determined, earlier this year, that Epstein didn't maintain a 'client list'— a departure from what some Trump allies had originally alluded to — and that the disgraced financier's death was by suicide, not the result of foul play."

Adelita Grijalva is the daughter of the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Arizona), and she was endorsed by some well-known progressives: Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).

CNN data expert Harry Enten noted that Adelita Grijalva carried that district by a 17 percent higher margin than 2024 Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

In Georgia, Dickerson defeated Shigley by around 22 percent. But given how deep red that district is, Democratic strategists believe that Shigley overperformed; Republican Brandon Beach, who gave up that seat to work in the Trump Administration, won it by greater margins than Dickerson.

"Despite Shigley's loss…. Democrats still celebrated the attorney's performance in the state legislative election," Vakil observes. "While Beach won his seat comfortably in November with 70 percent of the vote, Dickerson didn't break 62 percent Tuesday. Though special elections and the usual November elections encounter different dynamics, Democrats touted Shigley's overperformance — part of a larger trend for the party this year in a number of special legislative and congressional elections.

Read Caroline Vakil's full listicle for The Hill at this link.

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