After getting crushed in last summer’s recall elections and watching Amendment 66 get trounced at the ballot box, we have seen the Democrats make a last-ditch effort to save their one-seat majority in the state Senate by largely flying under the radar this session. If history is any indication, however, state Democrats are, well, screwed.
This fascinating chart, first reported by The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, illustrates how poorly the president’s party does during second term, midterm elections at the state legislative level.
NCSL’s state legislative race expert Tim Storey, tells the Washington Post:
“Since 1902, the party in the White House lost seats in legislatures in 26 of the 28 mid-term elections. The only exceptions being in 1934 when Democrats gained 1108 seats and in 2002 when Republicans netted 177 seats in the post 9/11 election.”
If we were Morgan Carroll, this chart would keep us up at night.