Ron DeSantis' takeover of various school boards was a demoralizing way to start the night, but in more positive news, Pat Ryan (take that, Frank!) kept the swing seat NY-19 (Antonio Delgado resigned to become lt. governor). Various polls, including from various Democratic polls, had the Republican, media hyped Marc Malinaro, winning by 8-10%. The DCCC, stretched very thin, didn't spend a lot of money here (VoteVets did spend 500K).
Ryan won in part due to rural counties not showing up as much while blue counties overperformed, but he also very pointedly, with no apologies, ran on choice, in spite of a media ecosystem that loves to jeer Democrats who take this approach (just ask Mark Udall).
Some will say special elections don't matter, they will say New York is not important, or that Biden narrowly won in 2020 so Ryan narrowly winning is not a big deal, but this was a seat seen as a likely pickup until not long ago.
If this type of energy and smart campaigning can be kept in 2022, it is still going to be very hard, especially in some states, but at least there's a chance.