Published in the High Desert advocate November 8th, 2018
Republicans expand their control of the U.S. Senate.
Democrats take control of the U.S. House.
Democrats flip seven governorships, with Georgia still too close to call. Republicans flip one governorship in Alaska.
Trifectas see changes in at least 11 states, with one state undecided. Current results count up to 14 Democratic and 22 Republican trifectas. Democrats currently have a net gain of six trifectas, while Republicans have a net loss of four. Thirteen states are slated to have divided government, which is down from 16. The one remaining state is Georgia. These trifecta levels are similar to those following the 2014 midterms, when Republicans held 24 trifectas to 13 for Democrats.
If Brian Kemp (R) wins in Georgia, there will be 37 total trifectas, which would tie with 2013 and 2014 for the highest national trifecta count in recent history.
The only state left with a divided legislature is Minnesota. The remaining 49 state legislatures are all controlled by one political party. Of those states, Democrats control 18 legislatures while Republicans control 31. After the 2010 midterms, there were eight states with divided legislatures. In 1994, there were 17 states with divided legislatures.
Based on current counts and media projections, Democrats will see a net gain of five legislative chambers. This would leave the new chamber count at 62 Republican and 37 Democratic. That count is most similar to before the 2014 midterms, when Democrats entered that election with 39 chambers and Republicans held 59. Following the 2014 midterms, Democrats held 30 chambers while Republicans had 68.
The 2010 election swung 12 state governorships from Democratic to Republican. In 11 of those states, the Republicans maintained control in 2014, while Pennsylvania switched back to Democratic control. In 2018, the remaining 11 states saw the following five states go back into the Democratic column: Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. The remaining six states—Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming—all elected Republican governors for the third straight time.
At least two secretary of state offices flipped from Republican to Democrat: Colorado and Michigan.
The DLCC reports 367 state legislative seats flipped Democratic. Historically, a wave election at the state legislative level occurs when one party loses at least 494 seats.
Voters legalize marijuana in Michigan, among other statewide ballot results.
