Archive for the ‘State Legislature News’ Category

From MSNBC:

Republican gains in the House and Senate were the fodder for huge headlines on Wednesday morning, but it is the party’s gains in down-ballot local races that may have created the most lasting protection for the GOP’s new majority in the House of Representatives.

Once every decade, state legislators begin the process of redrawing congressional districts to reflect changes in population, a process that can serve to insulate representatives from future difficult re-elections.

According to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, Republicans will now hold about 53 percent of the total state legislative seats across the country. Republicans gained at least 680 seats, the largest gain by either party since 1966, said NCSL.

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From US News and World Report:

The GOP scored some important national wins on Tuesday–victories that will help shape the future of the party.

Whether the Democrats were fired because of their philosophy or because of their failure to address the issues of joblessness, the economy, and spending, as several of my bloleagues here on Thomas Jefferson Street suggest, is really beside the point. The GOP is back from the brink.

“Election Day proved to be an even bigger ‘wave’ election than anyone anticipated,” said Ed Gillespie, the former Republican National Committee Chairman who now leads the Republican State Leadership Committee. “Voters went to the polls and swept Democrats from office. As we enter a time with huge policy and political implications, new Republican officeholders will be given an opportunity to demonstrate commonsense conservative leadership and implement solutions that promise real results and positive change for voters.”

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From Stateline:

Republicans won smashing victories in state legislatures yesterday, capturing an outright majority of the nation’s legislative seats and the largest majority for the party since 1928.

As of noon Eastern Time, Republicans had taken about 18 legislative chambers from Democrats, with more statehouses hanging in the balance. Democrats hadn’t picked up a single chamber from Republicans. So Republicans will have the upper hand when it comes to shaping state policy in the coming years. They’ll also be in charge in most states as policymakers redraw legislative and congressional district lines next year.

In historical terms, the most dramatic wins for the Republicans were in the South. As recently as 20 years ago, long after the region had begun voting Republican in presidential elections, Democrats held every Southern legislative chamber. After last night, Republicans will control a majority of the region’s legislative chambers for the first time since Reconstruction. (Also see Stateline’s coverage of the governors’ races and key ballot measures.)

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From Human Events:

Republican State House Gains Reach Record Levels

Congress wasn’t the only thing Republicans gained in last night’s election.

The Republican State Leadership Committee reports that the GOP also took control of nineteen state legislatures with the election of over 500 new Republicans to state houses across the country – the largest GOP gain in state house seats in history.

The GOP will control the Minnesota Senate for the first time in the state’s history and the Republican Party will hold majorities in the Alabama and North Carolina legislatures for the first time since the 1800s.

Republican gains were particularly strong in the south where the GOP now controls 18 of the 28 legislative chambers and a majority of all southern legislative seats for the first time since Reconstruction.

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From National Journal:

That control is a particularly bad sign for Democrats as they go into the redistricting process. If the GOP is effective in gerrymandering districts in many of these states, it could eventually lead to the GOP actually expanding its majority in 2012.

Republicans now hold the redistricting “trifecta” — both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship — in 15 states. They also control the Nebraska governorship and the unicameral legislature, taking the number up to 16. And in North Carolina — probably the state most gerrymandered to benefit Democrats — Republicans hold both chambers of the state legislature and the Democratic governor does not have veto power over redistricting proposals.

The Republican State Leadership Committee took the lead in the state legislature contests. Chris Jankowski, a spokesman for the committee, said they were very specific in where they used resources this year.

“These are not races that usually see the level of sophistication that we used,” he said.

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From the Washington Times:

The Republican midterm wave swept through state capitals across the nation Tuesday, with historic gains in state legislative races that will give the GOP a major advantage in influencing congressional races over the next 10 years through redistricting.

Republicans have won control of at least 19 additional state chambers now controlled by Democrats. That number is expected to increase – and to surpass the party’s 1994 total of 20 pickups – when final votes are tallied in six undecided races. The swing could eclipse the Democratic gains in the post-Watergate midterm elections of 1974, when 21 state chambers changed hands.

Republicans won control of 55 state legislative bodies and Democrats garnered control of 40, with one split. Although states use different processes to oversee redistricting, one analysis gives the GOP unchallenged control to determine the boundaries of 190 of the country’s 435 congressional districts.

“Election Day proved to be an even bigger ‘wave’ election than anyone anticipated,” said Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee. “Voters went to the polls and swept Democrats from office.”

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From the Examiner:

Republicans took control of at least 19 additional state legislative bodies Tuesday for a total of 26 in which the party controls both chambers, compared with 21 for Democrats and with three still up for grabs. Among these are legislatures in Alabama and North Carolina that had not seen elected Republican majorities since the Reconstruction elections of 1876 and 1870, respectively. Those that argued just two years ago the GOP was in danger of becoming a Southern regional party were proved resoundingly wrong as state legislative chambers in New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota flipped to GOP control. Republicans even made major inroads and could end up on top of legislative bodies in Oregon and Washington. Republicans won 16 of 30 races for state attorney general, taking five such offices away from Democrats, pulling within four of their opponents’ total. The GOP also won 17 of 26 secretary of state races, a gain of six, giving the party a 25-22 edge (three states don’t have such offices).

These developments have national implications, especially for redistricting. According to the Republican State Leadership Committee, Republicans now will play a role in redrawing the boundaries of a whopping 314 congressional districts. And lots of new Republicans in power in major swing states — such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado — will undoubtedly help foster a favorable climate for the 2012 GOP presidential contender.

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From the New York Times:

The party’s victories on Tuesday, giving Republicans a majority of the nation’s governorships and legislative chambers, came at a politically advantageous moment. Republicans will now have the upper hand next year just as states begin the once-a-decade process of drawing new Congressional districts, when both parties traditionally try to gain an electoral edge through gerrymandering and other forms of creative cartography.

Democrats, who had been making steady gains at the state level for years, were routed. Republicans were elected governor Tuesday in at least 11 states formerly held by Democrats, including key states like Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania that are expected to lose seats in Congress after the new census figures are released.

And Republicans were on track to win control of at least 18 legislative chambers — gaining control of both houses of the legislature in Alabama and North Carolina for the first time since Reconstruction.

“Republicans picked a good year to have a dramatic win,” said Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures who studies redistricting and elections.

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