Democrats Gain Ground in State Legislatures After the Midterms

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Sunday coverage of the midterms turned to the statehouses. NPR reported that Democrats will run the Texas House for the first time in 24 years, that the Georgia House will have a Democratic majority for the first time in more than 20 years, and that Pennsylvania voters elected a Democratic majority in the state Senate for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president.

Those results, NPR said, reversed a Republican dominance in legislatures that began in 2010. Going into the midterms, Republicans controlled legislatures in 28 states and Democrats held 18. Now, with some votes still being counted, it looks likely the Democrats will hold a 24-to-22 lead, with others divided, NPR reported.

The Republican State Legislative Committee blamed the losses on an anti-incumbent mood and heavy spending for Democrats. "Ultimately, the results of this cycle underscore both the challenges Republicans face and the importance of maintaining a strong, sustained presence in the states," the group's president, Edith Jorge-Tuñón, wrote, NPR reported. Heather Williams of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said the wins "proved what is possible when you put statehouses at the center of a national strategy."

NPR reported that Democrats gained six new "trifectas," meaning control of both legislative chambers and the governor's office. In Arizona, that will be the first Democratic trifecta since 1966. Democrats also won trifectas in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada. They broke Republican trifectas in Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats will likely have 22 trifectas and Republicans 17, with 10 other states divided, NPR reported, not including Nebraska.

ABC News reported after Election Day that Democrats were projected to control at least 10 more legislative chambers in 2027, with at least six trifectas, according to Associated Press projections as of Nov. 6. ABC identified those trifectas as Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin. Williams told ABC News, "I think without question, we affected generational change in our state capitals across the country. This is going to usher in an entirely different perspective of leadership in the states, and states are where things get done."

In Texas, ABC News reported that Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and became the first Democrat elected governor of Texas in more than 30 years. Voters flipped the state House, breaking the Republican trifecta held since 2003, though Republicans will still control the state Senate, according to the Associated Press, ABC reported. Incoming Democratic Attorney General Nathan Johnson told ABC News that he would scale back abortion law enforcement. Republicans in Texas are already discussing how to rebuild, including a planned Austin headquarters for Saving Texas, as reported in Saving Texas Plans an Austin Headquarters After the Republican Midterm Losses.

In Georgia, ABC News reported that Democrats won the state House for the first time in more than two decades. At a Nov. 6 news conference, Democratic Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms indicated that expanding Medicaid would be a priority and that she would consult legislative leaders about possible steps to change the state's six-week abortion ban. NPR reported that House Democrats could also try to repeal that ban, but that it could be a tough sell in the Senate.

Democrats won control of the North Carolina state House, NPR reported. A Republican was leading one state Senate race by just over a couple hundred votes, NPR reported, in a contest likely headed to a recount that will decide whether Republicans keep a one-seat majority or the chamber is tied, with the Democratic lieutenant governor breaking a tie. North Carolina Democrats are expected to try to roll back some abortion restrictions.

Democrats also won enough seats to end Republican supermajorities in some chambers they did not flip. The Multistate government relations firm said that happened in six states that had GOP, veto-proof supermajorities, NPR reported, a change that will matter most where Democratic governors can now veto Republican initiatives, including in North Carolina, Ohio and Kansas.

In Pennsylvania, ABC News reported that Gov. Josh Shapiro won reelection and that Democrats flipped four Senate seats, with a projected 26-to-24 majority according to the Associated Press. Shapiro said his majority would fund mass transit, raise the minimum wage, build more housing and guarantee what he called a right to "reproductive freedom." In Wisconsin, ABC reported that Democrat David Crowley defeated Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany to become the state's first Black governor, and that Democrats flipped both chambers for the first time in nearly two decades. In Nevada, Democrats retained both chambers and Aaron Ford won the governor's race; Ford has pledged to repeal the state's "right-to-work" law, ABC reported.

In Arizona, NPR reported, one possible policy change is school vouchers. Gov. Katie Hobbs has repeatedly tried to reform and limit the state's billion-dollar voucher program, which provides public money for private-school tuition regardless of family income, but the Republican-run legislature had blocked her.

Opinion:

The midterm message in the states is real. Republicans who had held so many legislatures since 2010 were beaten, including in Texas, and the GOP should learn from that. A change in party control is not a mandate to weaken laws that protect unborn children, or to squeeze parents out of decisions about schooling.

The plans already on the table in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas would make it easier to end unborn lives, and new Democratic majorities should be opposed when they move that way. The same is true if Arizona's new trifecta limits the state's voucher program, which gives families a choice in schooling.