Archive for the ‘State Legislature News’ Category

From Wall Street Journal:

Lost amid the GOP’s takeover of the House was a series of wins in much smaller races that could collectively have a broader impact on whether the party controls Congress for the next decade: Republicans won control of 17 statehouse chambers on Tuesday; Democrats didn’t win a majority in a single state-level chamber currently controlled by Republicans.

The statehouse sweep gives Republicans a much stronger hand in drawing new congressional districts beginning next year.

As a result of the once-a-decade Census, some states lose some representation in Congress — and others gain seats — based on their populations. After the most recent Census, states such as Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania are expected to lose one of their seats in the U.S. House, while Texas, North Carolina, Florida and others will gain seats.

Drawing new districts to accommodate the changes is always politically messy. That’s because a congressional district can easily swing from a Republican district to a Democratic one by cutting out a minority neighborhood or roping in a wealthy suburb.

Republicans say they picked up nearly two dozen House seats after the 1990 Census by drawing districts that favored Republicans and hurt Democrats.

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From Washington Post:

For Democrats facing the likely prospect of losing control of the House of Representatives for the next two years, there is an even scarier thought: losing it for the next decade.

Republican wins in Tuesday’s midterm elections are expected to sweep far down the ballot to state legislatures across the country, giving the GOP a pronounced political advantage as the parties tackle redistricting next year. It’s the legislatures that are tasked with the once-a-decade, complicated and partisan process of redrawing congressional boundaries based on population shifts gleaned from the census.

In most states, the party that controls the political process controls the map. Republican operatives are predicting that the GOP will pick up as many as 500 additional seats, and wrestle majorities in legislatures away from the Democrats in anywhere from 10 to 18 states.

“We’ve got a minimum of 11 or 12 chambers going our way – and it could be as high as 17,” said Chris Jankowski, director of the Republican State Leadership Committee’s REDMAP project.

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Not a “freeze” but some lawmakers, and the former Republican Attorney General now Governor-elect, will be donating any raise of take home pay to charity or back to the state.

From Morning Call:

Some legislators say they will continue to give the money to charity or back to the treasury.

Corbett said the issue of automatic cost-of-living increases should be scrutinized, although he stopped short of advocating a repeal of the 1995 law that guarantees them for certain state employees.

“I certainly want to have discussions with the Legislature about the issue of COLAs,” he said.

The raises, authorized by a 1995 law, are based on changes in the U.S. Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index for the mid-Atlantic states for the year ending in each October.

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From Governing.com:

The Democratic outlook in the state legislatures has continued to worsen as Election Day approaches. With this analysis — Governing’s third since July — we have moved eight more chambers in the Republican direction. The modest silver lining for the Democrats, however, is that no chambers are newly in play.

After taking account of these changes, the overall landscape remains 25 Democratic chambers in play, compared to just one GOP-held chamber and two tied chambers. (Chambers that are rated tossups and lean Democratic/lean Republican are considered to be “in play.”)

As we have noted all year, this is a terrible combination for the Democrats — both an unusually large number of chambers in play (32 percent of all chambers up this cycle — the highest percentage recorded in the five cycles this author has been handicapping the legislatures) plus a startlingly unprecedented lean toward one party, the GOP.

In none of the previous five cycles — which included two national wave elections (2006 and 2008) and a heavily anti-incumbent cycle for governors (2002) — was there ever this wide a difference in projected risk between the two parties. Instead, the typical ratio of vulnerable chambers between the parties has been close to even.

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Check out the latest RSLC ad in Kentucky below:

From DetroitNews:

The Republicans go into the final days of the election campaign with sizable leads over Democrats for every statewide office, according to a Detroit News poll released Wednesday, with Rick Snyder getting strong support throughout the state and southeastern Michigan.

The numbers point to a possible GOP sweep of the governor, attorney general, secretary of state and Supreme Court races. Though the poll did not ask voters about legislative races, the Republican tide suggests Democratic control of the state House is also in play.

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“There is a Republican tide in Michigan,” said Richard Czuba, president of Glengariff Group Inc., which conducted the poll for The News and WDIV Local 4.

The state’s independent voters, who broke for the Democrats in 2006 and solidified that shift in the 2008 Obama victory, “are voting in unison with the Republicans” this year, he said.

Jason Fligger, an architecture intern who lives in Detroit, is part of the move to back Republicans. He said he was a big supporter of President Barack Obama and normally votes Democratic but will vote Tuesday for Snyder, who holds a 53 percent to 35 percent edge over Democrat Virg Bernero among likely voters, with 8 percent undecided.

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From Freep.com:

Prognosticators thought the chances were remote a year ago, but there’s now a real possibility that a GOP election swing Tuesday could leave Michigan Republicans controlling both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office.

The toughest hurdle for Republicans is the state House, where Democrats hold a 64-42 advantage with four seats currently unfilled.
In the final days before the election, Democrats have the big money edge — $1.3 million to $206,000, based on recent campaign finance reports.

Democrats took a big advantage in the House in the 2008 election, when Barack Obama led Democrats on a butt-kicking in races from Congress to the Legislature to local offices.

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From the Associated Press:

The Republicans’ expected gains next week go way beyond Congress. The GOP could capture new Senate or House majorities in a dozen to 18 states — along with critical new power to redraw district maps and influence elections for a decade to come.

Three of the biggest prizes are New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. All three states are expected to lose seats in Congress as a result of the 2010 census, and that’s sure to ignite boundary fights. A party’s congressman on the wrong end of redistricting can find the district he’s represented for years no longer exists.

Democrats have hopes, too. They aim to take away state Senate control in Michigan and Kentucky and the House in Texas and Tennessee. Texas would be a particular victory, since it seems likely to have four more seats to divvy up under the new census. But none of the analysts contacted by The Associated Press predicted the Democrats would succeed in any of those states.

Both houses in Florida, a state that’s expected to gain two seats in Congress, are likely to remain under GOP control.

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From Oregonlive.com:

Johnson is running against freshman Rep. Suzanne VanOrman, D-Hood River. Brewer is running against Democrat Katie Riley for an open seat in Washington County that has been Democratic and Parrish is seeking to hold an open seat for the Republicans in a race against Democrat Will Rasmussen.

Knight clearly has issues with the Democratic leadership of the Legislature. He gave $100,000 to the unsuccessful campaign to overturn the legislatively approved tax hikes on businesses and high-income individuals.

Just as importantly, he’s given $200,000 to Republican Chris Dudley for his campaign for governor. So he’s certainly looking for a change in Salem.

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