A rather good article here from City Journal about the continuing state GOP wave.  You probably already know the basic tune, but there’s more. Rather more:

Pundits initially described the 2008 election as a major leftward shift in American politics, and it’s easy to see why: as the Obama era opened, the GOP held just 22 governorships and 14 state legislatures. But voters almost immediately began electing Republican lawmakers who rejected Obama’s call for bigger government and higher taxes. And they kept electing them last year, despite failed efforts by Democrats’ union allies to unseat incumbent Republican governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich in Ohio. Today, Republican governors rule in 31 states, and the party has gained nearly 900 state legislative seats, giving it control of 30 state legislatures; Democrats hold the majority in 11, with eight split, and one (Nebraska’s) unicameral and officially nonpartisan.

For example, the article reviews some of the accomplishments of governors who don’t get mentioned in this year’s election cycles, like Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota and Pat McCrory of North Carolina’s tax reforms, or former governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana’s right-to-work legislation, which sparked similar drives across the Midwest. I think that it’s helpful to remember that, despite the best efforts of Washington (both past and current), there is in fact quite a lot of good that we can do out in the states. And, of course, that there’s no such thing as an unimportant election. There’s always a reason why a particular office is an elected position, and in our system it’s usually a pretty good one.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Democrats are more or less becoming aware that, indeed, not having key governors and legislatures is hurting them, badly.  This won’t really have an effect on 2016, but it will in 2018.  Particularly since the Democrats will be licking their wounds at that point, and will be increasingly eager for a win.  I recommend that we give them as few wins as possible.

Moe Lane

PS: Of course you can think about upcoming state elections while there’s a Presidential election going on. Just don’t do it the other way around.