Two special elections to fill the House seats of deceased members were held in Ohio and Virginia yesterday and, despite stiff challenges from Democrats, both Republicans emerged as big winners:Republicans retained two House seats in special elections Tuesday, including a hotly contested Ohio race that the two parties spent nearly $700,000 trying to win. ... State legislator Bob Latta decisively defeated Democrat Robin Weirauch in Ohio’s 5th District, leading by 56 to 43 percent with 90 percent of the vote in. The special election was held to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor (R). In Virginia’s 1st District, GOP state Del. Rob Wittman won a landslide victory over Iraq war veteran Phil Forgit (D) in the race to succeed the late Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R). With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Wittman had 61 percent of the vote, while Forgit had only tallied 37 percent. (HT: Ed Morrissey) The Democrats poured $700,000 into the Ohio race and believed they had a good shot at an...(Read Full Post)