GOP Cleans Up in State Legislatures

Republicans picked up about 680 seats in state legislatures Tuesday, giving them their highest number since 1928. They've flipped 19 chambers in all so far—Democrats have flipped none—including both the House and Senate in Alabama, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. For the first time since Reconstruction, the GOP has a majority of legislators in the South, and for the first time in history, it has a majority in the Minnesota Senate, notes the National Conference of State Legislatures. Results in three states remain undecided.

"The success by Republicans at the state level could give the GOP a dramatic advantage in the redistricting cycle that will start in just a few short months," writes Tim Storey. (More Election 2010 stories.)