Democrats have suffered a stunning blow as voters in New York's 9th congressional district chose a novice Republican to replace disgraced Democrat Anthony Weiner in an election that became a referendum on President Barack Obama.
With more than 90 per cent of precincts reporting, Bob Turner, a retired television executive best known for producing The Jerry Springer Show, had 53 per cent of the vote in unofficial returns, election officials said.
Democrat Dave Weprin, a state assemblyman from a politically connected family, had 46 per cent. Weprin did not immediately concede.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1 in the district, which has not been represented by the GOP since 1923.
Turner hailed the results.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the heart of New York City sent an unmistakable message to President Obama tonight: change course," he told the Los Angeles Times in an email.
"The debt and spending is killing job growth in America, and we must stand firmly behind ally Israel again.
What is happening today is unacceptable." Weprin, 55, had led Turner by six percentage points in a Siena College poll last month, but trailed by that amount in a Siena poll last week.
That stunned Democrats into a last-minute advertising and grass-roots mobilisation effort that came too late.
The House seat has been vacant since June, when Weiner resigned after acknowledging he had sent lewd photos to women over the internet.
A Republican also won a special election in Nevada on Tuesday.
Mark Amodei bested Democrat Kate Marshall to represent a sprawling congressional district that includes Reno, Carson City and rural areas.
A Democrat has never won the seat, which became vacant when Republican Dean Heller replaced Sen. John Ensign, a fellow Republican who resigned amid a sex-and-lobbying scandal.
The New York race was the most recent and consequential reminder of how Democrats' political fortunes have plummeted.
Obama's approval ratings have waned amid nervousness about the sputtering economy and a summer-long tussle over the national debt.
Turner, 70, who entered the race as a long-shot, managed to turn the election into a referendum on Obama.
