The Washington Post: “Republicans’ grip on state power is also at risk in elections”

The Washington Post: “Republicans’ grip on state power is also at risk in elections”

New reporting from the Washington Post covers how “Democrats appear on track to govern a majority of states across the country for the first time since 2010, which could create enormous advantages for the party in 2028 and beyond,” while also noting one of the biggest obstacles is that “governors’ races rarely spark the passions of big Democratic donors the way Senate and House contests do” and “two of their biggest chances to flip seats are in states where Democrats are up against self-funding billionaires.”

The Post reports, “A new balance of statehouse power across the map would culminate a dramatic comeback from the Democrats’ low mark nine years ago, when they held only 15 of the nation’s 50 governorships,” and also noted, “Democrats are considered even bets against Republican opponents in Georgia, Iowa and Ohio — none of which has elected a Democratic governor in two decades.”

This comes as the Associated Press is reporting on how the DGA is “stepping up their rural investments,” with “$10 million each to campaigns in Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Wisconsin,” where “narrowing their losses” could help them become “newly competitive.”

DGA Chair Gov. Andy Beshear told AP: “What I see is a map that has grown and grown and grown and that is good for Democrats.”

The Washington Post: Republicans’ grip on state power is also at risk in elections

• Democrats appear on track to govern a majority of states across the country for the first time since 2010, which could create enormous advantages for the party in 2028 and beyond.

• With three dozen states holding gubernatorial contests, the map holds a wealth of opportunities for Democrats in part because 19 are for open seats in a climate where the winds are blowing against the party in control.

• Democrats are considered even bets against Republican opponents in Georgia, Iowa and Ohio — none of which has elected a Democratic governor in two decades. They are looking more competitive than just about anyone six months ago would have imagined in red bastions such as Texas and Florida. Meanwhile, they are battling to keep the executive offices in swing states that include Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

• A new balance of statehouse power across the map would culminate a dramatic comeback from the Democrats’ low mark nine years ago, when they held only 15 of the nation’s 50 governorships. The number now stands at 24, to the GOP’s 26.

• Yet governors’ races rarely spark the passions of big Democratic donors the way Senate and House contests do.

• “The map keeps getting bigger and bigger, but our budget stays the same,” said Meghan Meehan-Draper, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association.

• So Democratic gubernatorial candidates are being heavily outspent. Adding to that disadvantage, two of their biggest chances to flip seats are in states where Democrats are up against self-funding billionaires.

• And with so much congressional gridlock, states have become increasingly aggressive in setting policies on guns, health care, immigration, the environment and other issues where federal legislation is often stalled. Nearly all governors have power to appoint judges to state courts, and half of them name justices to state supreme courts.

• On the longer horizon, governors and legislatures will preside over reapportionment that will take place after the 2030 Census — and possibly sooner in some places.

• The population of the Sun Belt, where Democrats are hoping to pick up gubernatorial seats, has been growing, which means the census is likely to result in those states being allocated more congressional seats — and, with them, electoral votes. That could bring a dramatic rerouting of the road to the White House, which currently runs through seven swing states, three of which are in the Upper Midwest.

• “Democratic governors are the most popular elected Democrats in the country,” Meehan-Draper said. And if all goes well for Democrats in November, the party hopes there will soon be more of them.

Associated Press: Trump dominated rural America. Iowa is testing whether Democrats can win them back

• Democrats face a steep challenge in winning rural communities like this one in Chickasaw County, a onetime party stronghold that swung sharply to the right in the Trump era as a broader realignment swept through much of the agricultural Midwest. But by simply narrowing their losses with appeals to voters such as Roethler, Democrats hope to become newly competitive from Iowa and Kansas to Nebraska and Ohio.

• Democrats in Iowa are buoyed by Rob Sand, the state auditor whose campaign for governor is built on explicit overtures to independents and disaffected Republicans.

• A few dozen people gathered recently in an American Legion hall in St. Ansgar, a square-mile town near the Minnesota border. Sand opened by describing a “pretty standard upbringing” centered on hunting, fishing and church.

• Sand, who has won two statewide elections as state auditor, said he’s received support from voters who also backed Trump.

• “One of the things that people who vote for both of us find in common is that we say what we think and we’re dissatisfied with the political system,” he said.

• Democrats are stepping up their rural investments. The Democratic Governors Association has directed $10 million each to campaigns in Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Wisconsin and could spend elsewhere ahead of the election.

• “What I see is a map that has grown and grown and grown and that is good for Democrats,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who leads the DGA, said in an interview.

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