Republicans ultimately flipped, maintaining control of or expanding their majorities in nearly all state legislative chambers across the country, where partisan control was up for grabs on Election Day.
Now that final votes have largely been counted in key House and Senate races across the country, the results provide the Republican Party with yet another record of success — on top of the party gaining full control of Washington — that will likely help shape the future of various current policy issues.
According to projections from The Associated Press, Republicans have flipped control of the Michigan State House, strengthened their slim majorities in the New Hampshire State House and Senate and retained their majority in the Pennsylvania Senate.
In Arizona, Republicans appeared poised to expand their narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, although the AP has not yet called enough races to make that decision.
In the Minnesota State House, where Democrats were defending a narrow majority, Republicans appeared to have gained three seats, resulting in a tie in the House, although two close races are headed to recounts. Democrats won a special election for the Minnesota Senate to retain control of the chamber.
In Minnesota and Michigan, the results in the statehouses amounted to a rebuke of the Democrats’ power trifecta in each state. In many districts in both states, Democrats had focused their message on the achievements the party had achieved with that power.
Democrats, however, retained their 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania State House — the only bright spot for the party in the state’s legislative chambers where partisan control was at stake.
These outcomes closely mirrored national trends of largely across-the-board Republican success on Election Day.
“It is clear that Republicans were the definitive winners in this statewide election,” Republican State Leadership Committee Chairman Dee Duncan said in a statement. “Despite facing an unprecedented onslaught of spending from a constellation of national liberal outside groups and being forced to navigate a difficult political climate, we succeeded in achieving our goal of maintaining control in a majority of state legislatures across the country.”
While parliamentary races typically take on a more local flavor, both parties have focused heavily on national issues this year – not least because many of the most critical conflicts have taken place in presidential swing states.
For Democrats, this meant putting abortion rights at the forefront of many of their races, while Republicans emphasized the economy, immigration, crime and what they viewed as parents’ rights.
Moreover, Republicans’ victories in legislative races were on par, while Democratic groups overwhelmingly outpaced them.
Democratic outside groups, including the States Project, Forward Majority and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, have spent at least $175 million on interstate legislative races in a total of nine states this cycle.
By comparison, the RSLC has spent about $50 million this cycle, with no major spending from outside groups affiliated with the Republican Party.
In a statement, States Project co-founders Daniel Squadron and Adam Pritzker called the legislation’s overall results “challenging” while also highlighting Democrats who achieved “significant victories … despite the difficult political climate.” The group has spent $70 million on state legislative races this cycle.
The statement was in reference to Democrats making gains in legislative chambers in two states, North Carolina and Wisconsin, where they sought to cut back on Republicans’ vast gains.
In Wisconsin — where new legislative plans were expected to shift the balance of power in a Legislature dominated by Republicans for more than a decade — Democrats have gained at least 10 seats in the state Assembly and at least three seats in the Senate. , according to the AP.
These gains eliminated any possibility of a Republican Party supermajority in the legislature, giving Democrats the opportunity to prevent any vetoes from Governor Tony Evers from being overridden by Republicans.
And in North Carolina, Democrats also won enough seats to break the Republicans’ supermajority, giving Democratic Governor-elect Josh Stein a crucial veto over the conservative legislature.
But in Kansas, where Democratic-leaning groups tried to chip into the Republican Party’s legislative advantage, the effort failed. According to the AP, Republicans are on track to strengthen their supermajority in the Kansas Legislature.
Democrats also lost their supermajorities in legislatures in New York and Vermont, while Republicans gained one in South Carolina, according to AP projections.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
