Our latest book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses state and congressional elections.
Adding in the governors, state control is more unified in either the blue or the red column than ever, and the number of divided state governments is lower than ever.
As expected, when incumbent governors were on the ballot, they (almost always) won. Political control shifted in three open races, in Arizona, Maryland and Massachusetts. In all cases, Republican governors were replaced by Democrats. Only one incumbent governor lost reelection, Democrat Steve Sisolak of Nevada.
Before the election, Republicans had full control in 23 states, Democrats had full control in 14 states, and 13 had divided control—where one of the power positions (governor, House, Senate) is controlled by one party and the other two by the other party. The Maryland and Massachusetts results, along with Minnesota and Minnesota shifting to Democrats and Nevada shifting to divided control, put the party at 17. Republicans continue to hold 22 states, and the number of divided states is down to 10. That’s the lowest since 1952, when eight states had divided state control. Between 2000 and 2010, there were always 20 or more divided states.
