Red Dawn: The GOP's Growing Monopoly on State Government
Highly depressing.
Red Dawn: The GOP's Growing Monopoly on State Government
Republicans have single-party control in 23 states. Arkansas and Iowa could be next.
—By Patrick Caldwell
| Tue Oct. 14, 2014 6:15 AM EDT
There's never been a worse time to be a Democrat in a red state. Republicans now hold all the reins of power—the governorship and both houses of the state legislature—in 23 states. That's up from just nine before the 2010 elections. There are now more states under single-party control than at any time since 1944. And without even token Democratic opposition, Republicans have busted unions in Michigan and Wisconsin, passed draconian tax cuts in Kansas, and enacted sweeping new abortion restrictions across the nation.
This November, more Americans could find themselves living under single-party GOP rule. There won't be nearly as many states flipping to single-party rule as in 2010's GOP romp, but Republicans are hoping to add Arkansas and Iowa to the list of states where they can implement their agenda free of Democratic resistance. In Arkansas, Republicans won the state House and Senate in 2012 and hope to add the governorship this year. And in Iowa, a razor-thin two-seat Democratic Senate majority is all that has held back a wave of conservative legislation.
"We are on offense this year," says Jill Bader, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Conference (RSLC), which works to elect Republican state legislators. "We're building these new majorities in some states that have been traditionally Democratic."
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/gop-state-government-control