45 MILLION MORE AMERICANS
TO LIVE IN DEM-RUN STATES
Democrats Won Full Control In 6 New States
By Molly Redden and Nick Baumann

Democrats swept key state legislative and gubernatorial races across the country Tuesday, ensuring that at least 45 million more Americans will live under unified Democratic governance of their states next year and opening the door for sweeping policy changes on issues such as health care and education.

The results mark a dramatic turnabout for Democrats, who had full control of just eight states prior to Tuesday’s elections. Republicans controlled 26 state governments, and 16 were split.

But Democrats rode a wave of voter enthusiasm into key governorships and invested huge sums to flip control of state legislatures. As of Wednesday morning, Democrats were projected to win full control in six new states — Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, Nevada and New York — and had broken Republicans’ grip on Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

Full control of a state government — the trifecta of the state House, state Senate and governorship — brings huge benefits. Parties with full control have far more freedom to enact their policy agendas. In many states, full control also gives the party absolute power over congressional and state legislative redistricting, which means it can draw districts that will be hard for its foes to win.