Republicans running on the ballot underneath President-elect Donald Trump made gains in numerous state legislative chambers, though Democrats also notched a few victories in an expensive battle for state power.
The most notable change from Tuesday’s elections came in Michigan, where Republicans won back the House just two years after Democrats claimed full control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office for the first time in 40 years. Republicans also appeared on track to force a tie with Democrats in the Minnesota House, which would break a Democratic trifecta won two years ago.
Democrats had flexed their powers in the upper Midwestern states to enact a sweeping agenda supporting abortion rights, gun control, union bargaining powers and more. That will likely end under a new era of split partisan control.
Votes were still being counted Thursday in some states, including Arizona, where Republicans were trying to defend slim majorities in both legislative chambers against an aggressive campaign by Democratic-aligned groups. In Pennsylvania, Democrats were trying to hold on to a one-seat majority in the House while Republicans retained control of the Senate.
Nationally, Republicans will continue to hold a majority of state legislative chambers and governor’s offices. None of the 11 governorships up for election flipped control. Overall, it appears there will be only modest change in the composition of state legislatures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Republicans touted that as a big achievement.
“Republicans at the state level were definitive winners all across the country,” said Dee Duncan, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, adding that “Republicans are well positioned to advance conservative policies in the states.”
Though few chambers flipped control Tuesday, the parties waged a fierce battle over the strength of their majorities.
When one party holds a supermajority, it has margins so large that it can enact laws despite a governor’s veto, convene special sessions or place constitutional amendments on the ballot without needing any support from lawmakers of an opposing party.
Republicans appeared to gain enough seats Tuesday to achieve new supermajorities in Iowa and South Carolina and break up existing Democratic supermajorities in New York and Vermont. The Vermont victories were particularly meaningful, because they will fortify Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s veto pen. In June, Democrats overrode six of Scott’s vetoes, including ones concerning a 14% average property tax increase and a requirement for state utilities to shift to renewable energy.
Vermont House Speaker Jill Krowinski, a Democrat, said it’s essential for Democrats to “take stock of the messages sent by the voters.”
Yet Democrats also claimed some successes. They appeared on track to gain a legislative supermajority in Connecticut and made significant gains in Republican-led legislatures in Montana and Wisconsin, where they were running for the first time under new district maps that gave them a better shot at winning.
Democrats also appeared on track to pick up a seat in the North Carolina House, which would prevent Republicans from being able to singlehandedly override vetoes by Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein.
North Carolina was a big target for Democrats, because Republicans overrode more than two dozen vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, including on legislation barring most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and restricting medical treatments and sports activities for transgender youths.
Though was “a brutal night for Democrats” at the national level, the party “held onto more ground than would have been expected” in state legislatures, the Democratic-aligned group Forward Majority said in a statement.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Forward Majority and The States Project, which is another Democratic-aligned group, collectively poured about $175 million into state legislative races — outspending national Republican-aligned groups. Those efforts “prevented a Republican wave from taking shape in our state legislatures,” said Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Democrats had hoped to break additional Republican supermajorities, including in Kansas. But Republicans instead appeared on track to add to their power there. Republicans called the result a repudiation of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, whose Middle of the Road political action committee spent about $2 million trying to break the supermajority.
The closely divided New Hampshire legislature also shifted rightward, even though a slim majority of voters there backed Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Heading into the election, Republicans held a majority of just a few seats in the 400-member House, the nation’s largest chamber. But they will have a majority of several dozen seats in that chamber and a new supermajority in the Senate.
In heavily Democratic Massachusetts, Republicans also were celebrating several wins. Since 1984, only one Republican has flipped a state legislative seat in a presidential election year, according to Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale. On Tuesday, the party flipped three legislative seats, though Democrats still hold overwhelming majorities in both chambers and the governor’s office.
___
Associated Press reporters John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Steve LeBlanc in Boston; Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; and Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont, contributed.