It was the win no one expected, the win that couldn’t really shift the balance of power; but it was the win that may matter more.

While Democrat Dan Goughner’s victory in Tuesday night’s special election for Pennsylvania’s 35th House district garnered much of the initial attention — as it decided control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives — it wasn’t a huge surprise.

Goughner beat Republican Chuck Davis in a district just south of Pittsburgh in which a Democrat has been in office since 1969, the first year in which seats were not apportioned by county.

The election that is now gathering more attention after the fact changed very little. However, it’s the one both parties in the state should be heeding.

While many Republicans are still celebrating President Donald Trump’s election to a second term, Democrat James Malone narrowly defeated Republican Josh Parsons only 65 days into Trump’s term.

And he did it in Pennsylvania’s 36th Senate district — a district that voted for Trump in November by 15 points. It’s also composed of a chunk of Lancaster County. Lancaster County has not been represented by a Democrat for 136 years — since 1889, the year Benjamin Harrison, a Republican, took office.

Republicans are brushing off the victory.

They have a point. Malone’s win was a very narrow one, by less than 1%. Malone garnered just a few hundred votes more than Parsons, 26,951 votes to 26,451. Libertarian Zachary Moore took 480 votes, a number that, were you to assume would have gone to Parsons, would have still left him two votes shy of a win.

They also point out special elections have notoriously low turnout as there is, usually, nothing else on the ballot.

Also a good point, special elections can act as bellwether to gauge which voters are most motivated to actually cast a ballot.

Meanwhile, Democrats are elated. They’re touting the victory as a reflection of public reaction to Trump’s actions in the first days in office. They’re right as well. A Democrat win of even 1% in a county Trump won by 15 percentage points equates to a 16-point swing. However, they would be wise not to rest on their laurels.

We’re still nearly two years out from the midterms that will determine the makeup of Congress and four years from a presidential election. As Malone’s win shows, voter sentiment can shift in months and the political climate now may be vastly different in more than a year, let alone more than three.

But municipal primaries are less than two months away. Local leadership controls the most direct spending and taxes — and, perhaps more important, as the Trump administration moves to give states primary control over education policy, school district seats are on the ballot.

Both parties would be wise to heed Malone’s election and consider moderate options.

— JP