Remember, here in TN, ours is higher. 85% of the Senate in January will be GOP, with 5D vs. 28R members. That’s literally about as many as we’ll ever be able to take in that body (with 3 VRA Black Dem districts (2 in Memphis, 1 in Nashville), which, alas, I’m in the latter one, and the other 2 urban White leftist, one in Memphis and one in Nashville, though the latter had an old-school moderate Dem until he decided to retire).
The GOP will have 73 (out of 99) seats in the House, a modest gain of 3 (in the 4th (turncoat ex-Spkr Kent Williams’ seat, he retired); 13th (defeated moonbat White Dem Gloria Johnson in Knoxville district) & 74th (defeated Dem in Clarksville area seat)). There were 4 other seats that the GOP failed to get that it should have (43rd (expansive rural Dem open seat, failed to win by 55 votes ! The occupant, centrist Dem Charles Curtiss nearly lost to the same man. A 3rd candidate, for whom I know nothing about, took 409 votes, which was enough to provide either with a victory); the 50th (a Nashville seat that is about half GOP, an ugly win for the Dem incumbent who took it by 430 votes); the 60th (actually a slightly GOP-leaning seat where a freshman Republican, Jim Gotto, was the sole loss in 2012 was seeking a rematch against liberal Dem Darren Jernigan. What was less than a hundred vote loss was turned into a 1,021-win this time for the Dem, 53.3%-46.7%. The former centrist Dem occupant of the seat endorsed Republican Gotto) and the 69th, also an embarrassing loss and brutal race for a rural area South & West of Nashville, where the incumbent Dem held on by all of sixteen (!) votes).
As of now, unfortunately, the GOP still holds but ONE seat in the House from Davidson County (out of 10), that being the Speaker’s district. The GOP has only held 2 districts at maximum (Gotto’s seat from 2011-13, on the extreme eastern side of Nashville up against heavily GOP Wilson County, and prior to that, 2 decades ago when West Nashville sent the GOP Minority Leader, a district that was merged with now Speaker Beth Harwell’s).
Curiously, my former district, the 53rd (I was moved to the 59th), which is the most racially diverse in the state (1/3rd White, 1/3rd Black, 1/3rd Hispanic), the Dem incumbent, Jason Powell, got a subpar 53.2%, which was virtually identical to what the aforementioned Jernigan got in a GOP-leaning district. He was challenged by an Asian candidate, who got 43%. A 3rd party candidate got the remaining 4%, but she is a Republican who ran Independent (and formerly ran in my district as the GOP nominee in 2010). This was less than what Powell got in 2012 (54.4%).
The GOP didn’t put up a candidate this year against my execrable Dem incumbent (I wrote in the 2012 nominee, a Metro Councilman, Robert Duvall - no relation to the actor).
Curiously, the GOP didn’t run candidates in 3 winnable races held by White Dems. The rural 41st with John Mark Windle. 20-30 years ago, he’d have been the kind of candidate the TN Dems would’ve groomed for statewide office, but he’s now the odd man out surrounded by Republicans. He’d probably be better off switching parties.
Another seat the GOP oddly didn’t contest was the West Nashville 55th seat. This was the one that a Republican partly occupied 20+ years ago. Gary Odom, the former Democrat Majority Leader, held the seat since 1987 and was on course to becoming Speaker (whenever Boss Hogg Naifeh ever decided to quit, which he wouldn’t have until he was feeble). He had been a thorn in Sundquist’s ass (which in hindsight wasn’t necessarily a bad thing - but he was the Dem kneecapper in those days). Odom finally reached the Majority Leader post in 2007. He was present for when Naifeh orchestrated the coronation of Kent Williams as a puppet speaker, although he technically moved to Minority Leader in that 2009 session.
When the Dems failed to win back the House outright in 2010, he was bumped from leadership. In probably the single ugliest Dem primary in TN, he got a challenger from the moonbat left who effectively ran at Odom like he was a Tea Partier. Odom ended up losing renomination. The GOP didn’t even put up an opponent (they didn’t in 2012, either, though a Green party candidate ran). The kook that won unopposed, John Ray Clemmons, should be a top target in 2016.
Also, oddly, the GOP didn’t challenge the Minority Leader, a White Democrat from a rural West TN district (which could conceivably elect a Republican), Craig Fitzhugh. The Dems didn’t hesitate to run one of theirs against Speaker Harwell, who got 37% of the vote.
The big problem I had (and still have) with Spkr. Harwell and the GOP is that they decided not to be ruthless with redistricting in Nashville/Davidson Co. and went easy on some of the incumbents (rather than do unto them as Naifeh did to the GOP for decades). Given that being nice has netted the GOP side absolutely not one seat (remember, Gotto won in 2010 under Dem gerrymandered lines !), it is outrageous that in a county that votes GOP by 40%+ gets 10% of the seats. The GOP should have 4 out of 10, all of the peripheral areas (which coincides with the lone state Senate GOP seat, which is like a doughnut around the county). There’s no excuse next time around.
GOP supermaj and poor DJ is still in a rat district.
“As of now, unfortunately, the GOP still holds but ONE seat in the House from Davidson County “
Lame, out of how many seats?
I’m very surprised to hear the GOP didn’t contest so many winnable State house districts and yet still have 73.
BTW, I’ve have never had a GOP candidate for state leg run since I’ve been voting (and probably long before that).
Important IL result I forgot to mention, Southern IL Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier (elected in 2004 in formerly rat seat) narrowly got the 60% necessary for retention, beating back a big money effort by scumsucking lawyers to defeat him.
If only still had the GOP seat taken by rat Thomas Kilbride in 2000 we’d have a majority that could have struck down the rat gerrymanders.
You should write for someone.