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Before Tuesday’s election, Republicans held more governorships and state legislative seats than Democrats, along with an advantage in state trifectas—unified control of the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature.
That advantage has disappeared, clearing the path for more climate and clean energy legislation, according to analysts and advocates.
Democrats swept the vast majority of competitive races at the state level, flipping control of governors’ offices from Republicans in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, and Texas.
Democrats have a 29-19 edge in governorships, with Kansas too close to call and Alaska likely to take a while to declare a winner.
The party is on track for a net gain of hundreds of legislative seats, potentially giving it control of more nationwide than Republicans for the first time in more than a decade. Going into the election, Republicans had 4,072 seats and Democrats held 3,257, according to MultiState, a research and lobbying firm. Democrats had a net gain of more than 350 seats on Tuesday and are likely to add several hundred more as results continue to be tabulated, according to MultiState.
Democrats won five new trifectas: Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with Arizona likely to be the sixth once officials finish counting. Those additions would give the party 22 trifectas, with Republicans holding unified control in 18 states and nine with split control. Kansas is yet to be determined.
Republicans lost trifectas in Iowa, Georgia, Texas, New Hampshire, and Ohio. Before the election, Republicans had trifectas in 23 states, Democrats had 16, and 11 were under split control.
The implications for climate and energy policy are likely to be profound, said Caroline Spears, executive director of Climate Cabinet, an advocacy group.
“In the states, we had a generational political window shift to make people’s lives better, to lower costs, and to lower climate pollution at the same time,” she said in a conference call.
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