Rollcall’s Gonzales is out with a piece that will make Democrats even more happy about their possible ‘wave’ gains across the country…
While most of the national attention is on the fight for Congress and President Donald Trump’s tweets, this cycle is also huge for gubernatorial races, providing an opportunity for Democrats to bounce back from a couple disappointing cycles.
Republicans are defending 26 of their 33 governorships this year while Democrats are defending nine of their 16 governorships. One independent governor in Alaska is up for re-election as well.
While gubernatorial races are state races, Pennsylvania is a great example of the potential federal impact. Earlier this year, when the state supreme court threw out the congressional map on the grounds that it was a partisan gerrymander, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf declined to approve the new map proposed by the Republican-held Legislature. Ultimately, the state supreme court chose a new map that was favorable to Democrats.
That’s the blueprint Democrats would like to follow until they gain control of more state Legislatures.
We’ve changed our Inside Elections ratings for governor in six states. You can read more analysis of these races and each of the 36 races for governor in the April 6 issue of Inside Elections.
Three move in favor of Democrats….