CHICAGO – Illinois isn't the only state that was hit by a Democrat deep blue wave this week. State legislatures swung back to blue from red throughout the nation.
From Associated Press – the "progressive" agenda will move quicker than most imagined through state legislatures now:
The Democratic power surge in statehouses and governors’ offices will boost a host of progressive priorities, including health care, school spending, gun control, environmental protection and voting rights — even as divided government causes gridlock in Washington.
In at least seven states, Democratic governors succeed Republicans. And the party flipped at least 350 state legislative seats from red to blue. During the eight-year Obama administration, the Democrats lost nearly 900 state legislative seats, allowing Republicans in many states to cut taxes, restrict access to abortion and stiffen voter ID laws with little Democratic resistance.
The policy changes will look especially dramatic in states where Democrats will now control all the levers of power or have legislative “supermajorities.” Democrats will soon hold the governor’s mansion and both legislative chambers in Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, New York and Nevada, bringing the total number of Democratic state “trifectas” to 14.
Democrats shattered Republican trifectas with their gubernatorial victories in Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin, and by winning control of the New Hampshire House and Senate.
To be sure, Republicans still have 22 trifectas of their own. There are only 13 states where the two legislative chambers are controlled by one party and the governor is from the other. And for the first time since 1914, there is only one state — Minnesota — where the legislature is split. (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature.)
While the divided U.S. Congress may struggle to advance legislation over the next two years, one-party rule at the state level sets states up to get things done.
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