Malone’s victory shrinks the GOP advantage in the state senate to 27-23. In a separate election outside Pittsburgh, the Democratic candidate ran well ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ margins in a Democratic seat to maintain the party’s narrow 102-101 advantage in Pennsylvania’s state House.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Democrat Dan Goughnour handily won a special election in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, keeping majority control of the state House in his party’s hands by a single seat.

Democrats won a significant upset victory in a Republican-leaning state Senate race in Pennsylvania, adding to recent GOP special election woes. Democrat James Malone narrowly defeated Republican Josh Parsons by less than 1 percentage point in the race for state Senate District 36 on Tuesday,