MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Texas Democrats have taken control of the state House after historic victories for governor and US Senatewhich is part of a series of considerable gains nationally in Tuesday’s elections that shifted the balance of power in several battleground and Republican-leaning states.
It will be the first time that Democrats control the House in Texas since Republicans took power after the 2002 elections. Republicans maintain control of the Senate in that state – which also elected Gina Hinojosa as its seat. first democratic governor since George W. Bush ousted Ann Richards in 1994.
In this year midterm electionsThe party has taken full control – of both state houses and governors’ offices – in at least five states where they previously shared power.
The victories put pressure on the party to respond to an electorate angry about the rising cost of living, high gas prices, inflation and a lack of affordable housing. State governments shape a wide range of policies affecting daily life, including tax rates and abortion rights, school choice and education funding, data center development, and use of artificial intelligence and law enforcement surveillance cameras.
“Now is the time to act,” said Devin Remiker, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which retained the governorship and successfully flipped both houses of the state Legislature, shattering a 16-year Republican majority.
Democrats prevail in battleground states
Democrats also won or retained full control of both houses of the legislatures in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania and held on to the governorship for a trio in all three.
In Nevada, they took control by winning the governor’s seat and retaining legislative power.
There will be pressure on Wisconsin Democrats and other battleground states to redraw the congressional map, just as President Donald Trump successfully urged eight Republican-led states to do before this election. But it backfired on methe Republicans losing most of the seats held by the Democrats they intended to unseat and others they expected to win.
Republican congressional redistricting in Texas may have mobilized more Democratic voters in some parts of the state, helping drive gains within the state, said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston.
But “when we try to think about why the Democrats won, it’s one man in the White House and his policies: Donald Trump,” Jones said.
Even though the maps favored Wisconsin Republicans, Democrats gained two congressional seats in Tuesday’s elections. That means the state will have an evenly divided congressional delegation in 2027.
Democrats also break Republican trios and supermajorities
Democrats will also hold at least 28 governorates in 2027, with collections in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Texas, states long held by Republicans.
And the party has broken or prevented Republican supermajorities in nine legislative chambers in eight states: Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and North Carolina.
That means Republicans would need help from Democratic lawmakers to override a Democratic governor’s veto in Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina. The Associated Press has not called the Kansas gubernatorial race.
The victories come after Democrats lost nearly 1,000 legislative seats during President Barack Obama’s term, a decline they have been trying to reverse for several cycles.
It’s the largest shift in partisan power in state governments since 2010, said Katie Owens Hubler, director of elections and redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Lawmakers who will soon be in the majority say the change raises expectations. “We know people will be counting on us to act, and we take that very seriously,” said Wisconsin state Rep. Greta Neubauer, currently the Democratic minority leader in the state Assembly.
Heather Williams, chairwoman of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said the party won “historic levels of power in legislatures.” She said they haven’t flipped this many seats nationally since the 1980s.
This time, she said, Democrats will need to focus on issues that matter to middle-class voters, like improving educational opportunities and increasing access to health care, especially in rural areas.
“This election is about table issues; it’s about economic opportunity,” she said Wednesday. “That’s what the warrant is about.”
Victories highlight Democratic priorities in 2027
The cost of groceries, housing, health care, gas and utilities has been a topic of discussion after legislative sessions filled with bills aimed at making life more affordable for Americans, while providing tax breaks and curbing the development of data centers and the use of artificial intelligence.
The next legislative session could see major efforts to ease the tax burden on the middle class, ease housing regulations, expand access to health care and force utilities and data center developers to do more to prevent electricity bills from rising.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won re-election, told supporters Tuesday night that people want him and lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, invest in infrastructure, children, police and communities, and enshrine a woman’s right to abortion in the state constitution.
Other newly elected governors, including David Crowley of Wisconsin and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have said they want to work with Republicans.
“I’m not interested in moving Minnesota to the left or the right; I want to move us forward,” Klobuchar said.
She even issued a warning to her Democratic supporters.
“Spoiler alert: You may not like everything I do,” she said.
___
Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey. Associated Press journalists Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., and David Lieb in Washington contributed.
Gn usa
