Montana is getting a Republican governor for the first time in 16 years, but voters decided against partisan changes in the 10 other states where the office was on the ballot Tuesday.
It’s not clear whether Democrats have been able to flip any legislative chambers.
Efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic have put governors in the spotlight while state legislatures are poised to determine redistricting, abortion, health care and other super-charged topics. Both are on the ballot this year in races that have been overshadowed nationally by the presidential race but have drawn intense interest and massive spending in their states.
Across the country, 35 are picking state lawmakers this year.
Democrats are hoping to gain control of more state legislative chambers after Republicans scored huge wins in 2010. That put them in charge of drawing congressional and state legislative maps after that year’s Census, a process that kept them in control in most of those states throughout the decade.
In most states, legislatures and governors have a role in drawing congressional and legislative maps, a process that starts after the U.S. Census delivers its decennial count at the end of this year.
