Voters in State Races Reject GOP Agenda
September 27, 2011
Quick links+
When Republicans picked up two Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in special elections, it was big news. The media, however, is ignoring the grassroots rejection of the GOP attack on working families in races for state-level offices where anti-labor Republicans are seeing serious losses.
Republicans gained control of governorships and state legislatures in huge numbers in 2010, but their all-out attacks on collective bargaining rights, state workers, voting rights and state services is fueling a backlash that is steadily gaining momentum.
Pro-worker Democrats have picked up three seats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives this year. In New York, pro-worker Democrats swept six state legislature elections in one week on top of more wins over the summer. And in Wisconsin, the epicenter of attacks on working families by Gov. Scott Walker, Democrats held all the seats that Republicans challenged in a series of high-profile state senate recall elections. Democrats challenged six GOP state senators in recall races and picked up two seats in historically GOP districts. Democrats also won an additional seat in the state Assembly.
In Maine, where the GOP governor is pushing attacks on working families and even ordered the removal from a state building of a mural that featured Maine’s labor history, Democrats won special elections for a Senate and House seat.
