State Legislatures
Of the nation’s 7,382 state legislative
seats, 83% were up for election. There were
10,728 candidates running for 6,129 legislative
seats this year, under the banner of 38 different
party designations. Republicans fielded 4,795
candidates and the Democrats ran 5,135. There
were 798 people running affiliated with 3rd parties.
Pre-election, state legislative chambers were
controlled almost evenly between the two political
parties. Twenty legislatures were controlled
by Republicans, 19 by Democrats and 10 legislatures
were split.
Democrats ran with no GOP challenger in 58% of
the unopposed races, while Republicans were unopposed
in only 42% of the races. The Democrats strategy
to field numerous candidates paid dividends; Democrats
gained a total of at least 56 seats with several
more to be tallied. The Democrats now control
both Houses in 23 states, Republicans control 16
states and control is split in 10 states. The
following chambers have switched to Democratic
control:
- Iowa House and Senate
- Minnesota House
- Michigan House
- New Hampshire House and Senate
- Oregon House
- Wisconsin Senate
- Indiana House
Gubernatorial Races
Democrats also made substantial gains in the states’ gubernatorial
races. Of the 36 contested races, Democrats
were able to switch party-control in six states,
while maintaining control of their existing states. Twenty-eight
states now have a Democrat in the Governor’s
mansion, as opposed to 22 states with Republican
governors. Democrats took control of the
Governor’s seat in the following six states:
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Ohio
Attorneys General And Insurance Commissioners
Among the 30 races for attorney general, democrats
won all but two of the 12 open attorney general
races, including Arkansas, California, Delaware,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New
Mexico, New York and Ohio. All eight incumbent
Democrats won re-election and Republican incumbents
held onto nine of 10 seats. Incumbent attorney
general in Iowa, Nebraska and South Carolina ran
unopposed this year.
Six of the 12 elected Insurance Commissioners
were up this year. The incumbents in Georgia,
Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma won reelection. In
California, republican newcomer Steve Poizner handily
defeated the current Lt. Governor and former Speaker
of the State Assembly, Cruz Bustamante. In
Florida, democrat Alex Sink was elected Chief Financial
Officer (CFO). The CFO is one of three constitutional
officers who appoint the Insurance Commissioner.
Ballot Initiatives
Americans acted on 204 ballot measures, of which
76 were citizen initiatives. Thirty-five
percent of the measures were approved, including
an array of conservative and liberal measures:
- California’s Proposition 86 and Proposition
89 both failed. Proposition 86 would have
imposed a $2.60 tax on cigarettes to fund health
programs. Proposition 86, pushed by
the California Nurses Association, increased
the corporate income tax rate by .2% to fund
campaigns. It also set new limits on contributions
and corporate expenditures.
- California passed tougher smoking bans.
- Washington’s term-limits measure failed
to pass.
- All the measures to reduce taxes or limit spending
failed.
- Same-sex marriage bans were approved in CO,
ID, SC, SD, TN, VA and WI.
- Abortion restrictions failed in CA, OR and
SD.
- Immigration restrictions were approved in AZ,
CA and CO.
- Tobacco taxes increase were approved in AZ
and SD.
- An affirmative action ban passed in MI.
- A measure to approve stem cell research appears
to be passing in MO.
