Democrats will control a majority of the nation's governor's offices for the first time in 16 years after taking five Republican-held seats in Tuesday's midterm elections: Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas.
Unofficial results as of Wednesday morning put Democrats on track for 28 governorships and Republicans for 20, with the Alaska and Kansas races still uncalled. Democrats also held on in competitive contests in Maine, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The shift reverses a 26-24 Republican edge going into the election. Republicans have held a majority of state governments since 2010.
The night also set a record for Black governors, with four elected, including the first Black woman and the first Black Republican to win a governorship. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be Georgia's first Democratic governor since 2002 and the first Black woman to serve as governor anywhere in the country.
In Ohio, Dr. Amy Acton becomes the first Democrat voters there have chosen as governor in 20 years. In Iowa, Rob Sand's victory breaks more than a decade of Republican control over both the governor's office and the legislature.
Midterms routinely punish the president's party. This year, voter frustration over high prices and souring views of President Donald Trump made the losses steeper than expected, a wave that Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said was larger than anyone had anticipated.
In Texas, Democrats also won the attorney general and lieutenant governor races for the first time in decades and took control of the state House. Jones said the open questions are what Democrats will do with their new power and whether they can hold on to it.
Overall, Donald Trump has single-handedly turned many red states blue — or at least purple.
Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University
Statehouses change hands
Republicans entered the election with an even wider lead in statehouses. The National Conference of State Legislatures counted 28 GOP-controlled legislatures, 18 Democratic ones and three states where the chambers were split.
By Wednesday, Democrats had ended the Republican supermajority in Florida, won both chambers in Wisconsin and taken the North Carolina House. In Pennsylvania, capturing the Republican-held state Senate gave Democrats a trifecta, with control of the governorship and both legislative chambers.
Heather Williams, who leads the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, called the results proof of voter frustration with the MAGA agenda.
Arizona's new majority
Arizona Democrats will run the legislature for the first time in 60 years, giving Gov. Katie Hobbs a Democratic trifecta. The party needed to flip three Senate seats and four House seats; as of Wednesday it was on pace to gain six and 10.
Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, the assistant House minority leader, said affordability tops the agenda, alongside reproductive health care protections and gun safety measures. Last year, Democratic bills targeting corporate purchases of single-family homes, price gouging on generic drugs and the state's child care assistance waiting list never got an initial hearing.
Republican consultant Chuck Coughlin cautioned that a majority does not guarantee unity, and that Democrats who won in red districts will have to weigh bold moves against keeping their seats. Registered Republicans still outnumber Democrats in the state.
