Will Democrats clean up in 2014 gubernatorial races?
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In 2010, Republicans capitalized on a perfect storm of political circumstances to retake the House in resounding fashion. And at the state level, too, the GOP made big gains and dominated
the gubernatorial contests.
Before the election, Democrats held a 26-23 advantage in governorships. After the election, Republicans led 29-20, including key pickups in swing states like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
(In each case, there was one independent governor.) Today the margin is 30-20 in favor of the GOP.
After being elected, several of those first-term governors moved hard to the right, and are now facing difficult re-election bids; a few appear headed for landslide defeats. As a result,
Democrats are in solid shape. They may not retake the overall governorship edge, but they'll at least make a significant dent in it come 2014.
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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business
Insider.