One Republican victory in the midterm elections has been mostly overlooked. Yes, Republicans took control of the Senate and a surprising number of governorships. But they also won a record number of state legislature seats.
Vox
There are now only five states with Democrats completely in control of the government. California, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, and Vermont. That's it.
Twenty five states have exclusive Republican control and another twenty have divided government. There are 99 state legislatures in the country and 66 of them are controlled by Republicans.
Now they have total control of Congress and the Supreme Court.
With all this, who needs the White House?
Republicans are getting closer and closer to controlling enough legislatures to amend the Constitution no matter who is president. The magic number is 38 states. Democrats would need to control 13 states outright to block ratification of any new amendments. But there is no plan to get there. Knowing Democrats, there probably wont be until its too late. Republicans, however, are aggressively playing on this turf and are successful so far. They are 13 states away and they are already advancing on that front. The fact that Democrats have the political infrastructure to control the White House and a handful of states is truly alarming. Especially if you start reading the sorts of insane amendments Republicans are putting into state constitutions.
There are still plenty of Democratic state of legislators out there. But the fewer statehouses there are under Democratic control, the fewer opportunities those legislators have to make policy, become visible, and rise through the ranks. That's a loss with ramifications that could last a generation.
Let that sink in.
5:57 AM PT: Correction! I mistakenly overlooked Hawaii as the sixth state with total Democratic control. And considering the state of things, that sounds like a mighty good place to be!