The Democratic Party’s losses at the state level -- could cripple it for a long time to come.

[Kablooie]

Down and Out
The Democratic Party’s losses at the state level are almost unprecedented, and could cripple it for a long time to come.

The most immediate consequence of the Democrats’ midterm disaster was losing control of the Senate and ceding Congress to the GOP. For the next two years, Democrats will have to deal with conservative legislation, right-wing hijinks, and—in all odds—a vacancy crisis, as Republicans freeze confirmations and refuse to fill spots in the executive branch and on the federal bench.

That is bad for the Democratic Party. What’s on the horizon is worse. As Amy Walter notes for the Cook Political Report, Democrats lost big at all levels of government, including the states. “Today,” she writes, “about 55 percent of all state legislative seats in the country are held by Republicans. That’s the largest share of GOP state legislators since the 1920s.” What’s more, “just 11 states have an all Democratic-controlled legislature,” and Democrats hold single-party control in just seven states. By contrast, “Republicans have a legislative majority in 30 states, including the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina,” and single-party control in most of the South.

This, Walter says, is a slow-moving disaster for congressional Democrats. She’s right. Absent major gains in 2016, 2018, and 2020, Democrats will be shut out of the next round of redistricting.

Put simply, the two statewide Republican waves have put Democrats and liberals on the near-term defensive. The former will struggle to build a new bench for the post-Obama era, and the latter will fight to put effective pressure on a national party that—if it follows the lead of its likely nominee—isn’t eager to embrace the unapologetic liberalism of its activist class. And the honest truth is that things could get worse. With a sudden economic downturn, Democrats could enter 2016 as serious underdogs, giving Republicans a real chance to elevate new talent and give their statewide strategies a spin on the national stage.

More:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/12/democratic_party_s_losses_at_the_state_level_are_extraordinary_the_party.html

[upaloopa]

1. We get the government we vote for. Of course

there was nothing to vote for in the last election and our candidate wasn't any better than theirs. Or so I'm told.

[sammy750]

2. The key that the conservatives are going for is to control city councils up to the states government

The Koch brothers have this as their mission. If the local communities can be taken over, the GOP is in the bag for national takeover. But the voters are too dumb to listen or understand what is happening.