Republican victories in the presidential and Senate races dominated the headlines from Tuesday’s election, but the GOP is also feeling good about results from several of the down-ballot races.
The Republican State Leadership Committee, which supports Republican efforts in state legislative races, celebrated flipping control of the Michigan House and Minnesota House, along with holding control of the Pennsylvania Senate, among other results. RSLC President Dee Duncan noted in the aftermath of the Tuesday elections that Democrat-aligned groups had spent $175 million to the GOP’s $49 million for the state legislative races.
“It is clear that Republicans at the state level were definitive winners all across the country on the ballot, despite facing an unprecedented onslaught of spending of $175 million,” Duncan told reporters on Thursday.
The GOP had set its sights on the lower chambers in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania as key opportunities to flip from Democratic control. The former two are projected to flip Republican, while the RSLC is bullish on their chances to flip the state House in Pennsylvania. Other key legislative chambers they set out to defend were in Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Texas, and they did so successfully.
Duncan also said that while Democrats had talked boldly about making significant pickups in state houses, “they failed miserably” to do so.
“So I would, if I was one of their donors, I might ask for my money back,” Duncan joked while discussing the significant money spent by Democrats on state legislative races.
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Democrats have largely touted their victory in the lone special election in the Minnesota Senate, which kept the chamber in Democratic control, along with gains in the Wisconsin legislature.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee also boasted about being projected to break the GOP supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly. With the election of Democrat Josh Stein as governor, Republicans will also have a tougher time passing legislation at the state level.