Most effective state parties

When asking the question of which state parties are the most effective, one of the first questions I ask is how effective is the party at keeping control of a state. If this is how we define a political party to be effective, then the most effective parties are the ones who are able to maintain absolute control of state government for the longest period of time. We can define these parties as the most effective state parties in the party.

Using Wikipedia as our source, we can then derive a table of the most effective state parties, based on how long it has been since the minority party controlled each of several different offices. The most effective state party is then the one that has maintained absolute power the longest over the state government.

Some states can be immediately discounted because they have failed to maintain absolute control of the state’s government right now. These states are:

  1. Alaska
  2. Arizona
  3. Florida
  4. Georgia
  5. Iowa
  6. Kansas
  7. Kentucky
  8. Louisiana
  9. Maine
  10. Maryland
  11. Massachusets
  12. Michigan
  13. Minnesota
  14. Missouri
  15. New Hampshire
  16. North Carolina
  17. Ohio
  18. Oklahoma
  19. Pennsylvania
  20. Vermont
  21. Virginia
  22. West Virginia
  23. Wisconsin

These 23 states can be considered swing states.

For the Democrats, the following table can then be derived

State Governor Any state executive office Either state legislative chamber US Senate President Last R official
California 2010 2010 1996 1992 1984 2010
Connecticut 2010 2010 1996 1988 1988 2010
Hawaii 2010 2010 1962 1976 1984 2010
Rhode Island 2010 2010 1958 2006 1984 2010
New Jersey 2017 2017 2001 2013 1988 2017
Delaware 1992 2018 2008 2000 1988 2018
Illinois 2018 2018 2002 2016 1988 2018
New Mexico 2018 2018 2016 2008 2004 2018
New York 2006 2008 2018 1998 1984 2018
Colorado 2006 2018 2018 2020 2004 2020
Oregon 1986 2020 2006 2008 1984 2020
Washington 1984 2021 2017 2000 1984 2021
Nevada 2018 2022 2016 2018 2004 2022

These are the most effective Democratic parties in the country, with California, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Rhode Island being the most effective. Which of these four is the best Democratic party can be debated, based on your values and how you measure “best”. But in my view, there is no question that the most effective Democratic party is one of these 4.

For the Republicans, the following:

State Governor Any state executive office Either state legislative chamber US Senate President Last R official
Utah 1984 2000 1978 1976 1964 2000
Texas 1994 1998 2002 1994 1976 2002
Idaho 1994 2006 1960 1980 1964 2006
Tennessee 2010 2010 2008 1994 1996 2010
Wyoming 2010 2010 1966 1977 1964 2010
Nebraska 1998 2006 2012 1964 2012
Arkansas 2014 2014 2012 2014 1996 2014
South Carolina 2002 2014 2000 2004 1976 2014
South Dakota 1978 2006 1994 2014 1964 2014
Indiana 2004 2016 2010 2018 2008 2018
North Dakota 1992 2008 1994 2018 1964 2018
Alabama 2002 2010 2010 2020 1976 2020
Mississippi 2003 2020 2011 1988 1976 2020

The Republican Party of Utah has dominated the politics of that state more thoroughly and for a longer period of time than any other party in any other state, and Texas is a close second.

A big lesson from all of this is that pretty much every state can swing either way with enough campaigning and the right candidate.

Out of 50 states, 23 of them do not have one party completely dominating every political office.

13 states have Democrats dominate every aspect of state politics.

The other 13 states have Republicans dominate every aspect of state politics.

Out of the 26 states with total partisan control, 6 of those states have gained total party control since 2020. 17 states which saw a party gain and keep complete control since the 2010 midterms.

Only Texas, Utah, and Idaho have had one party dominate every aspect of political life since before the 2008 election.

 

The lesson of this is, no matter what state you live in, whether you are in the minority or the majority, no matter how daunting it may seem that the politics in your state are absolutely dominated by one party or another, things can always change. No party in any state has dominated every aspect of politics for more than 22 years. The majority of states (29 to be precise) have seen multiparty control since the 2020 election.

No state is guaranteed to have complete partisan control by one party or another.

With this knowledge, go vote now and be heard in this month’s election. Your vote counts.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_U.S._states and individual pages for each state.

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