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11/10/14, "What Senate Republicans can learn from the GOP-led states," Washington Post, Marc A. Thiessen
"Washington, as usual, is marveling at itself — focused on the impact
of the GOP wave that has given Republicans control of the U.S. Senate
and an expanded majority in the House.
But the real story is the GOP tsunami in the states that has given Republicans
greater control of state governments than at any time
in almost a century.
While
President Obama has downplayed Tuesday’s Senate results, arguing that
Democrats were fighting on GOP ground, Republicans also picked up
governorships from Democrats in liberal strongholds like Massachusetts,
Maryland and Illinois, as well as in Arkansas. Result? The number of GOP
governors has risen from 21 to 31 since Obama took office (32 if
Gov. Sean Parnell holds on in Alaska) — just short of the all-time high
of 34 Republican governors in the 1920s.
Voters have also given
those governors Republican legislatures to enact their agendas. When
Obama first took office, Republicans held just 3,220 state legislative
seats. After Tuesday’s vote, the number stands at 4,111
— a net gain of nearly 900 seats on Obama’s watch.
Thanks to the 291
state legislative seats Republicans added in 61 chambers across the
country last week, there are now more Republican state legislators than at any time since 1920. Put another way: In 2008, the GOP controlled just 36 state legislative chambers. It soon will control 69
— and voters have given the GOP total control of state government in
nearly half the country.
In 2008, Republicans held both the legislature
and governors’ mansion in just eight states. Today, the number is 24.
By contrast, Democrats now control both the legislature and governor’s office
in just seven states,
down from 15 before the 2014 election.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, that is the
lowest number of states
Democrats have controlled since 1860.
This is more than an anti-Obama swing of the political pendulum. A
conservative revolution has been taking place in the American heartland.
And that revolution will have lasting consequences in a number of
areas.
For one thing, while the Obama administration was turning
Washington into a laboratory for a failed experiment in big government
liberalism, Republicans have turned the states into laboratories for
bold, successful conservative reforms. The results speak for themselves.
After six years of Obama’s leadership, trust in the federal government
is at an all-time low. Gallup recently found that while only 19 percent
of Americans have confidence in the federal government to do the right
thing.
Meanwhile, after six years of growing Republican leadership in
the states, 62 percent of Americans trust state government....
With
an electoral map favoring Democrats in 2016, the GOP’s Senate takeover
could be short-lived.
But in the states, Republicans have been making
steady gains for three election cycles — and the effects will last for a
generation."
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