| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| GOP tide swamped statehouses |
| 2014-11-17 |
| [PHILLY] The wave was even bigger than it looked on the networks' election-night maps. Republicans picked up so many seats in state legislatures that the party will control 68 of the nation's 98 partisan chambers come January - the most since 1920, a time of flappers, bathtub gin, and the Model T. They'll have legislative control in 30 states, to 11 for the Democrats. Counting Republican governors, the GOP will dominate the governments of 24 states (to six for Democrats). By one calculation, that means about 48 percent of the U.S. population will live in states where Republicans can drive their agenda without significant Democratic opposition. After the 2010 midterms, a not-quite-as-big year of wins for Republicans, the GOP used sizable majorities in state legislatures to own the redistricting process, as well as to push voter ID laws, restrictions on abortion rights, and antiunion measures. In Michigan - birthplace of the auto industry, scene of early battles of the labor movement - Republicans were able to enact a right-to-work law. In Pennsylvania, of course, there was a quirk in the Nov. 4 wave. Republicans increased their majorities in the state House and Senate, with more conservative members - even as the party's governor, Tom Corbett, was losing by 9.7 percentage points. Democrats had touted their chance of taking the Senate in Harrisburg - but ended up losing three seats, and will face a 30-20 GOP majority in January. In the House, Republicans gained eight seats, and their majority - 119 of 203 members - will be the largest either party has enjoyed there since 1958. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 I really think this is the GOP's last chance to avoid the fate of the nineteenth century Whigs. If they screw this up, they'll be a rump party in no more than ten years, probably less. |
| Posted by: charger 2014-11-17 17:17 |
| #2 No. That interferes with reaching across the aisle and compromising. |
| Posted by: Woodrow Stalin1308 2014-11-17 05:43 |
| #1 But will they actually use it? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-11-17 02:51 |