Democrats maintained their narrow Pennsylvania House majority Tuesday by winning a special election, giving them control over how the chamber will handle abortion, gun rights and election law legislation. Via NBC News:

Heather Boyd won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the Philadelphia suburbs, beating Republican Katie Ford for a vacancy created by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel. Zabel quit the Legislature in March, shortly after a lobbyist accused him of sexually harassing her.

Boyd’s win gives Democrats 102 seats, the minimum needed to control the agenda in the 203-member House. The state Senate has a Republican majority.

The Democrats’ victory in the Delaware County district means first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will have at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The result could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment limiting abortion rights that legislative Republicans are one House floor vote away from putting before voters as a referendum.

Dems already have a slew of gun control bills they're waiting to pass, which are badly needed to control Philadelphia gun violence. The city has been blocked from passing their own gun control bills for decades, and this should be a big turnaround.

This seat was considered so important, Gov. Josh Shapiro even did commercials in the Philadelphia market urging voters to save the Democratic majority.

I used to cover the district as a reporter, and back then, it was so Republican, Democrats never won. Upper Darby was the seat of a 125-year-old Republican machine that was the suburban version of Chicago's Democratic machine. So this is even sweeter for me.