While media stayed concentrated on high profile races around the country?
Democrats made gains on the state and local level around the country, and in the South and MidWest in US House races….
They STILL have a long ways to go to erase loses they took during the
Tuesday’s election results gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives for at least the next two years. But their success elsewhere on the ballot puts them in a better position to control it for the next decade after that.
With Democratic candidates for governor and state lawmaker winning in several key states, the party broke Republican monopolies that redrew the political maps after the 2010 census – maps that have given the GOP an advantage in congressional elections in the years since.
On Tuesday, Democrats picked up full control of state governments in Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, New York and Nevada.
In several states where Republicans held full control – Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire and Wisconsin – they will now share power with Democrats.
Most of those states will hold state legislative elections again in 2020. But Democratic wins this year will strengthen their hand when states face the once-a-decade task of redrawing the congressional district lines in 2021.
Elsewhere, voters approved ballot initiatives aimed at reforming redistricting by taking it out of the hands of politicians. Michigan, Colorado and Missouri all passed redistricting proposals. A fourth initiative, in Utah, appears to be passing narrowly.
“The Republicans are on notice that the playing field and the rules will be different after 2020,” said Jeffrey Wice, a Democratic redistricting attorney…..