Is Obama the elephant in the room?
Baer Growls THE Washington Post had a fascinating item Thursday that looked at how the makeup of state legislatures has changed since President Obama was sworn into office.
Baer Growls
THE Washington Post had a fascinating item Thursday that looked at how the makeup of state legislatures has changed since President Obama was sworn into office.
If you guessed Democrats lost ground and Republicans gained ground, you guessed right.
In fact, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats lost power in nearly every state senate and nearly every legislature since 2009.
The data show 85 of 98 legislative bodies got more Republican between then and 2015.
And if you're wondering, wait, why not 100 legislative bodies since there are 50 states? Well, that's because Nebraska has a unicameral legislature where members are chosen in nonpartisan elections.
Let me just note before going further: Imagine a legislature, the nation's smallest with only 49 members, who are paid only $12,000 and selected in nonpartisan primary and general elections.
Then look at Pennsylvania, the largest full-time legislature in America, second-highest-paid at $85,338, second only to California; and I assume I don't have to mention anything about Pennsylvania's reputation for corruption, partisanship and ineptness (how's that budget coming, by the way?).
And, yes, Pennsylvania is among states that got more Republican: 1 percent gain in the Senate; 10 percent gain in the House.
New York, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia also posted GOP gains (in fact, West Virginia went up 35 percent in its Senate, 43 percent in its House) while Jersey stayed Democratic by posting a 3 percent gain in the Senate and staying the same in the House.
Only two states, California and Illinois, had Democratic gains in both House and Senate.
The total Democratic loss during the period in question was 919 seats, a decline of 22.5 percent.
The Post makes the point that this is not good long-term news for the party, since legislatures are often where political leaders begin their careers and their climb to higher office.
I suspect many others will make the point: Well, we know whose fault this is, right?
- John Baer