WASHINGTON — Democrats scored key victories in state legislative races, bucking midterm trends to flip the Michigan and Minnesota legislatures red to blue while defending Democratic majorities in states like Colorado, Maine and New Mexico. A recent piece by Governing showcases how state Democrats beat the odds to win back power in state legislatures despite a challenging midterm political environment. State legislatures are shaping up to be the bright spot of the midterm cycle for Democrats.
Governing: Democrats Defy the Odds to Score Gains in Legislatures
Democrats have defied history. The president’s party almost always loses state legislative seats in midterms, but Democrats took control of at least three chambers on Tuesday, winning the Michigan Legislature and the Minnesota Senate…
In addition to their wins in Michigan and Minnesota, Democrats are celebrating the fact that they blocked Republicans from taking supermajority control in North Carolina and Wisconsin, preserving the veto power of Democratic governors in those states. “We stopped a GOP supermajority tonight when North Carolinians voted for balance and progress,” Gov. Roy Cooper tweeted Tuesday night…
But Democrats managed to defy both conventional wisdom and historical odds. Since 1900, according to Williams, the president’s party has only gained legislative seats in two midterm elections — the New Deal election of 1934 and the post-Sept. 11 elections in 2002. The net change in partisan control of seats isn’t clear yet, but it’s Democrats who came away with important chamber wins.
Democrats are on track to overcome historic odds defending our majorities in key states and even flipping the legislatures in Minnesota and Michigan,” Jessica Post, the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “Republicans had everything in their favor: Record fundraising and a midterm political environment under a Democratic president, and they have little to show for it.”
The DLCC is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures. This cycle, the committee raised $50 million at its fastest pace ever to elect state Democrats across the country. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and pass the policies that have the biggest impact on Americans’ day-to-day lives.
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