San Joaquin Homes Community Blog

State Elections Make History

Though Presidential and Congressional elections captured the attention of the nation, the states had some exciting activity on the election front as well.

Eleven states had gubernatorial elections; the Democrats had a net gain of one seat in Missouri and will control 29 Governors’ offices to the Republicans 21.

The state legislatures saw the most action as nearly 6,000 of the 7,382 legislative seats were being contested. Several notes of historical significance resulted from these races:

• New Hampshire became the first state in history to give women a majority in a legislative chamber. Women will hold 13 of 24 seats in the Senate.
• The South Carolina Senate will become the only state legislative chamber in the country without any female members. The last all-male legislative body was the Louisiana Senate, which had no women from 1980 until mid-1991.
• Republicans managed two big wins in the South; for the first time in history, Republicans will control both chambers in Tennessee and Oklahoma, after both chambers in Tennessee and the Oklahoma House switched party control. The Tennessee win for the Republicans was a surprise. Both states have Democratic governors.
• Every legislative chamber north of Virginia, except for the Pennsylvania Senate, will be controlled by Democrats.
• The Delaware House flipped to the Democrats after being controlled by the Republicans for 24 years. The Delaware and Indiana House chambers are considered the most volatile in the country – each flipping party control 19 times in 100 years.
• The biggest prize for the Democrats was the New York Senate, which had been under Republican control since 1966. The Democrats now have a monopoly on New York – for the first time since 1935 – controlling the House, Senate and Governor’s office.
• Democrats now account for 55 percent of all state lawmakers, the highest percentage since 1994.

Republicans now have full control of the legislature and governors’ offices in eight states while the Democrats control 17.

Ballot Measure Activity High in States

There were 153 initiatives on the ballot in 36 states – six still undecided, 90 were approved and 57 rejected (61 percent) – which is just slightly below the 67 percent approval rate in 2004 and 2006.

Most notably for the apartment industry were those measures related to money. Massachusetts voters rejected Question 1, which would have repealed the state income tax, surely leading to increased fees and taxes on apartment firms in that state. This was the second time that this question had been placed on the ballot (2002) and voters said no with a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent.

Nationally, 14 of the 15 bond measures on state ballots were approved, authorizing just over $13 billion in borrowing. There were three states that had tax cut measures of some type on the ballot (including the aforementioned in Massachusetts) and all of those failed. The general thought surrounding that fact is that voters either recognized the value of the state services paid for with those dollars and/or realized there will be more significant increases in the future because of the current economic situation.

Two other notable ballot measures were defeated:

• Amendment 47 would have made Colorado a “right to work” state, barring employers from making union membership or paying union fees a condition of employment.
• Arizona Proposition 202 would have reduced employer responsibility for identifying illegal immigrants.

A notable passage occurred in Arkansas. The Arkansas Legislature currently meets every other year in odd-number years. Voters passed a constitutional amendment authorizing lawmakers to meet in even-number years to consider budget matters only in a 30-day session.

Norbert Huston @ www.SanJoaquinHomes.info is a proud member of the National Apartment Association, this article was published on 11-26-08.

Huston Assoc. Real Estate Inc