Red tide: a GOP wave washed over state legislatures on Election Day.

• Author: Hansen, Karen

The winds of change blew with hurricane force through America's state legislatures Election Day, changing the political landscape from blue to red in historic terms.

Just two years ago the barometric pressure reading couldn't have been more different. Democrats netted more than 100 state legislative seats across the nation, wresting control of 60 of the 99 chambers--the highest number in 15 years--in the Democratic sweep that won them the White House and solidified their control in Congress. But this Nov. 2--true to the predictions of prognosticators and pollsters was demolition day for Democrats. Voters took their anger and disillusionment with the economy into the voting booth and shook up the political order from top to bottom.

Voters who decided to clean house in Congress handed Republicans a victory in the states, too. Midterm elections predictably swing against the party of the president, but the public's stunning repudiation of Democrats in 2010 put the GOP in control of the most state legislative seats since 1928. At the start of Election Day, Democrats controlled both chambers in 27 states, to the GOP's 14; eight were divided and Nebraska is nonpartisan. By the next morning, Republicans had taken control of at least 19 chambers, giving them the majority in 25 state legislatures. Three chambers--the Oregon, New York and Washington Senates remain--undecided at press time.

Election Night belonged to the GOP. Democrats did not win a single additional chamber, and saw their control slip to 16 legislatures. And the number of new seats for Republicans--some 675--was truly historic. It is the largest Republican win since 1966, even bigger than the post-Watergate surge by Democrats in 1974. There are now more Republican state legislators than any time since the Great Depression.

The widely reported enthusiasm gap among Democrats was reflected in the number of candidates each party fielded. In the states, 6,115 legislative seats were up this year. (Four states--Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia and three Senates--Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina--did not have legislative elections.) Some 11,000 candidates ran for legislatures. This year Republicans put up 822 more than they did in 2008, while Democrats had 50 fewer candidates than two years ago.

Republicans successfully nationalized the election, expanding their congressional victories to the states. Polls before the election indicated that 75 percent of Americans believe things are going badly in the country. The old adage, "it's the economy, stupid," proved especially true Nov. 2. Voters by a 62 percent margin cited the economy as the most important issue, far overshadowing health care reform (19 percent) and immigration (8 percent). With one in nearly 10 Americans out of work and a drum beat against a growing federal deficit and expanded government, those lawmakers closest to the people were caught in the maelstrom of anxiety and demand for change that spelled doomsday for Democrats.

"The economy was 75 percent of the explanation for everything that happened on Election Day," says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "The new GOP state legislators appear to have the same priorities as their federal counterparts--less spending, lower taxes and a strong opposition to debt. This is a group of fiscal conservatives...