In Southern States, GOP Keeps Gaining
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ATLANTA—Republicans in the South continued to make gains weeks after the midterm elections, as a number of Democrats elected to state offices have switched parties.
Since the vote, in which the GOP took control of the U.S. House of Representatives and solidified control in state governments across the South, at least 18 Democratic state legislators have jumped to the Republican Party. More defections are likely in coming months, officials from both parties say.
While a handful of Democrats became Republicans in other parts of the country, the majority of these defections have come in the South.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Not all Southern states have seen mass defections after this election, but in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, elected Democrats have been crossing over or making plans to do so.
There haven't been any Southern Republican state officials who have turned Democrats since the election, though a Republican county commissioner in Pennsylvania has announced he was going to the Democratic side.
In Louisiana's 105-seat House, Republicans went from 49 seats after the Nov. 2 vote to 53 seats today, their first majority since Reconstruction. A state senator there also switched to the GOP. Alabama Democrats controlled the 105-seat House for 136 years until the midterms, when Republicans finished with 62 seats. Now that majority has increased to 66.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Georgia, where Republicans control all state offices as well as the legislature, nine Democratic legislators—eight representatives and one senator—have changed sides, strengthening solid GOP majorities. On the local level, even a black county commissioner who was once national president of the College Democrats of America has switched.