GOP takes statehouses, too

The Republican wave swept into the statehouses this week, as at least 10 states previously led by Democratic governors flipped to the GOP column. Republicans, who will hold at least 29 of the 50 governors’ seats, had strong gains in the economically battered Midwest, including the key presidential battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. With the once-per-decade process of redistricting due to take place next year, the GOP now has a chance to redraw states’ electoral maps to favor Republicans in 2012 and beyond.

One of the most stinging defeats for Democrats came in the presidential swing state of Ohio, where former Republican Congressman John Kasich narrowly beat incumbent Ted Strickland, despite strenuous campaigning by President Obama. In Florida, another swing state, Republican Rick Scott narrowly defeated Democrat Alex Sink. But Democrats won governors’ races in three large states: California, where former Gov. Jerry Brown beat former eBay CEO Meg Whitman; Illinois, where incumbent Pat Quinn appears to have edged state Sen. Bill Brady; and New York, where Andrew Cuomo crushed Tea Party favorite Carl Paladino.

Kasich and his fellow Republican governors-elect can’t celebrate long, said Joe Hallett and Mark Niquette in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch. Like his counterparts in other states, Kasich will face a “dire budget scenario” when he’s sworn in, making the state’s highest office “a perilous prize” indeed.

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Still, by capturing so many governorships in a redistricting year, the Republican have advanced their plan “to dominate the House for much longer than the next few years,” said Nick Baumann in MotherJones.com. “That’s a prospect that has national Democrats very worried.” Their biggest worry might be Florida—the state that decided the 2000 presidential election—said Kyle Peterson in National Review Online. “The deeply divided state had historically been jointly held territory,” but this year’s results make it “all red, all the time.”

Can Jerry Brown, back for a third term, be a role model for humbled Democrats? asked an editorial in The Sacramento Bee. Campaigning on a message of “moderation and humility,” he promised “to restore public confidence in a state government that has squandered it.” That’s a tall order for any politician, let alone one with Brown’s history of divisive governing.