Check out this tremendous post at the Swing State Project (cross-posted here at Daily Kos) about the state of the state houses. DavidNYC picks up on the DLCC's post-election press release discussing the Democratic successes of 2005, and he distills out these key points:
• Dems gained 46 legislative seats nationwide in 2004, moving 10 legislatures into Democratic control, while only four became GOP-held.
• Dems gained one seat (or possibly two) in NJ and one seat in VA this year.
• As a result, Dems now have eight more legislative seats nationwide than the Republicans (3,661 vs. 3,653). Not an especially meaningful measure of legislative strength, but at least it's an indicator that Dems haven't fallen behind on the state level, even if they have on Capitol Hill.
• Don't dismiss the importance of state legislatures - they are our political farm system: 57% of congressmen and 44% of governors once served as state legislators.
• This is the big one: Twenty of the 36 states in which state legislatures control redistricting are within just four seats of switching party control. These 20 states represent 195 congressional districts.
And as we've discussed before right here, the state legislatures collectively pass 75 pieces of legislation for every 1 that Congress passes -- so state representatives and state senators have a pronounced impact on our laws and our lives.
