Voters dealt a rebuke to President Barack Obama in a typically Democratic district, electing Republican Bob Turner to the House seat that scandal forced Anthony Weiner to give up.
With 92% of the vote counted in Tuesday's special election in New York City, Turner had 53% and Democrat David Weprin had 47%, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
In another special election, for a vacant House seat in Nevada, Republican Mark Amodei defeated Democrat Kate Marshall. Amodei had been favored to hold the seat that fellow Republican Dean Heller vacated this year when he was appointed to the Senate to replace John Ensign, who resigned in the midst of another scandal.
"I think it's a big red flag," Stu Rothenberg, editor of the Washington-based Rothenberg Political Report, said of the New York election results. He called Turner's victory "a warning sign that voters who are dissatisfied with the direction of the country may well be more likely to take it out on the president and his party than on congressional Republicans."
Weiner, a Democrat, vacated the seat in June following revelations that he sent lewd photos of himself and messages to women over the Internet.
The House now has 242 Republicans and 192 Democrats with one vacancy.
Democrats played down the election results. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling with Obama that "special elections are often unique." Obama spoke in North Carolina on Wednesday to promote his jobs plan.
Turner, 70, was endorsed by former New York Mayor Edward Koch and state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, both Democrats, over Weprin. But his victory may be short-lived -- Turner's seat soon may be redistricted out of existence.
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