The lengthy leadership standoffs and historic gridlock that paralyzed the 118th Congress have reinforced state legislatures’ status as the nation’s primary laboratories of public policy. That reputation has been especially well-earned since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returned the debate over abortion rights — perhaps the country’s most charged political lightning rod — to the states.
Far down the ballot from the oxygen-sucking showdowns for president and Congress, 85 state legislative chambers were up for grabs. Republicans notched the two biggest legislative victories of the night, flipping control of the Michigan House of Representatives and tying the Minnesota House of Representatives after eight years of Democratic control. Both outcomes nixed Democratic trifectas that had been won in 2022.
But Democrats had some successes of their own. Their biggest win came in the North Carolina House of Representatives, where they successfully broke the Republican Party’s veto-proof supermajority by a single vote. They also returned a Democratic-led coalition to power in the Alaska House of Representatives and made substantial inroads in Montana and
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The Cook Political Report is an independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends.
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