Remember the number: 69. That’s how many state legislative bodies Republicans are trying to win this year, out of 99, up from the 60 they control right now. (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, composed entirely of senators, a bit like Rome but with fewer coups.) That would give them a “state legislature supermajority,” and allow them to push through the sort of policy reforms that will be quickly gummed up in a Washington that—let’s be honest—will spend six or seven months passing bills before everyone gets excited about 2016.
“We’re on offense this year,” says Jill Bader, a spokeswoman for the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee. “We’re confident in the path not just to a supermajority, but in a more diverse group of elected Republicans.”
The RLSC groups this year’s elections in a couple of tiers. The first tier is composed of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, where Republicans lead the generic ballot and have been closing the gap in statewide races; Colorado’s Senate, which was reduced to a one-seat Republican majority by pro-gun 2013 recall campaigns against Democrats; Iowa’s Senate, with Republicans can win with one more seat; Nevada’s Senate, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority in a year that turnout has been suffering; West Virginia’s House, where an easy win for the GOP’s Senate candidate may elect the four Republicans needed for a swing; and New Mexico’s house, where Republicans need three gains, and expect to benefit from a strong win for Gov. Susana Martinez.
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