Republican State Leadership Committee We Can Change Congress
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Mar 28
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Election Day 2010 proved to be an even bigger “wave” election at the state level than anticipated. Republicans flipped at least 19 legislative bodies to Republican control and hold majorities in 10 of the 15 states that will gain or lose U.S. House seats and where the legislature plays a role in redrawing the map.

Republicans have an opportunity to create 20-25 new Republican Congressional Districts through the redistricting process over the next five election cycles, solidifying a Republican House majority.

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From the Wall Street Journal:

Nearly two weeks after the election, Republicans and Democrats remain locked in fight over three close races in the state Senate. The resulting legal wrangling promises to be both expensive — Senate Democrats already $2 million in debt for costly election season — and lengthy.

The stakes could hardly be higher: control of the Senate hangs in the balance, and to the majority party goes outsized influence over the once-a-decade process to redraw district lines in New York.

The process is heavy on politics. After the completion of the U.S. Census, lawmakers in the Assembly and Senate revise the intricate district maps that define their constituencies. In past redistricting efforts, lawmakers in control of the process have adopted artful, demographic-savvy strategies in a bid to create safe seats for incumbents and expand the reach of the majority party.

Read the full report here.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 12:37

Nathan Gonzales writes in the latest The Rothenberg Political Report that “Democrats couldn’t have picked a worse year to get hit with a political wave at the state level” noting “The surge of 2010 puts Republicans in total control of redrawing congressional maps for more than 40 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives.”

For months, Democratic strategists privately expressed concern that the party had the expertise and resources to stem the GOP tide in some federal races, but there wasn’t enough attention on races further down the ballot. Their nightmare came true on Tuesday.

The GOP picked up 19 chambers, giving it control of 56 out of 98 partisan legislative chambers in the country. More important, Republicans control both chambers in 26 states (up from 15 before the election), including some key redistricting states. In 20 of those states they also control the governorship.

“Of the 18 states that are going to gain or lose seats in reapportionment, Republicans now have majorities in 10 of those states,” said Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee, who predicted that the GOP could gain 15 to 25 House seats through redistricting.

Every state will redraw its congressional map, even if it doesn’t gain or lose a seat due to population growth or loss. In most states, the legislature is in charge of drawing the lines, and in 39 states it has the power to veto a new map or the authority to appoint a redistricting commission.

“If you are a political party, you never want to have a really bad election,” said veteran political handicapper Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report. “But if you’re gonna have one, you really don’t want to have it in a year that ends in a zero.”

Read the full story here.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 12:33

As Results Continue to Finalize, They Indicate Strong Showing Where The Republican State Leadership Committee Was Involved

ALEXANDRIA, VA – As outstanding results continue to come in from across the country, they continue to show that Republicans made history this week by surpassing Democrats’ gains in the post-Watergate 1974 election and more than doubling their 2006 gains.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “Republicans gained at least 680 seats on Tuesday” outperforming the 628-seat Democratic gains in 1974, the 472-seat Republican gains of 1994 and more than double the 322-seat Democratic gains of 2006.  In addition, the NCSL reports “Republicans now hold about 3,890, or 53 percent, of the total state legislative seats in America, the most seats in the GOP column since 1928.”

“As we analyze these results and the state legislative gains, it becomes very apparent that Democrats cannot expect to recover anytime soon from this wave that swept them from office.  This is not simply another cycle where some seats went back and forth and will soon move back the other way.  This election doubled the Democrats’ 2006 performance and the next round of redistricting is likely to further cement these results,” observed RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie.

More than a year ago the RSLC begin planning for the 2010 election cycle, designing a strategy to maximize impact on Congressional redistricting. That plan called for focusing resources on states projected to gain or lose Congressional seats based on the most recent Census data. The RSLC devoted resources to these states and won complete victories in the Michigan House, Ohio House, Pennsylvania House and the Wisconsin House and Senate.  The New York Senate is still to be determined, but appears likely to be a Republican pick-up as well.

Specifically the RSLC:

  1. Spent $1.4 million targeting four New York State Senate seats, winning two and potentially controlling the New York State Senate (GOP currently ahead in enough seats to gain control, but recounts are expected).
  2. Spent nearly $1 million in Pennsylvania House races, targeting and winning three of the toughest races in the state (House Districts 39, 54, 130).
  3. Spent nearly $1 million in Ohio House races, targeting six seats, five of which were won by Republicans. Additionally, five of these six legislative districts were carried by President Obama in 2008.
  4. Spent $1 million in Michigan working with the Michigan House Republican Campaign Committee and Michigan Republican Party to pick up 20 seats in Michigan.
  5. Spent $750,000 in Texas as part of an effort that resulted in 22 House pick-ups.
  6. Spent $1.5 million in Wisconsin to take control of the Senate and Assembly, including spending $500,000 to target Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker.  The RSLC was the only group to target Decker who was defeated soundly by Republican Pam Galloway.
  7. Committed resources to Colorado (over $550,000), North Carolina (over $1.2 million), and Alabama ($1.5 million).

The RSLC also invested more than $3 million across a number of other states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, Nevada, New Jersey and Oregon.  In

total, the RSLC raised more than $30 million for the 2009-2010 cycle, spending $18 million after Labor Day alone.

About the RSLC
The RSLC is the largest caucus of Republican state leaders and the only national organization whose mission is to elect down ballot, state-level Republican office-holders.  Since 2002, the RSLC has been working to elect candidates for the office of attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state legislator.  The RSLC has more than 100,000 donors in all 50 states. 

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Last Updated on Friday, 5 November 2010 02:10

From Nashville Scene:

In this dopey election season with the blowout governor’s race, we actually are witnessing something historic: the probable end of the competitive two-party political system in Tennessee.

This troubling development for democracy will come as a shock to many voters after next week’s elections. That’s because, in one of the worst political malpractices ever committed, no one is telling them about it.

Rather than talking about the need for choice in elections — and warning about the crazy stuff Republicans will do if given free rein — Tennessee Democrats stubbornly have stuck to their playbook of campaigns past (as dreadfully unsuccessful as it has been). That is, they have masqueraded as Republicans — not really Democrats at all, but God-fearing, Nancy Pelosi-hating good ol’ boys just like their opponents.

Read the Rest…

Last Updated on Thursday, 28 October 2010 02:27

From Wall Street Journal:

When U.S. voters go to the polls next week, there’s a lot more at stake than just who controls Congress next year.

The outcome could also decide who holds power in the House of Representatives–and maybe even the White House–over the next decade.

The reason? Legislatures all across the nation will redraw the boundaries of congressional seats based on the 2010 Census, as required every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution. The party that wins more governor races and state legislatures will gain the upper hand in the remapping process.

Read the Rest…

Last Updated on Thursday, 28 October 2010 02:25

 

 

 

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