(National Pulse) The Democrats have suffered major reverses in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Wisconsin, with Republican legislators gaining supermajorities in all three states.
With the state legislatures now firmly in the hands of the GOP, the power of Democrat governors in the three states may be in peril.
In Louisiana, the Republicans – still very much considered the ‘party of Trump’ – enjoy supermajorities in both the House and Senate of the state legislature as a result of its longest-serving lawmaker, Rep. Francis Thompson, switching parties, meaning Governor John Bel Edwards can no longer veto bills banning biological males from girls’ sports in schools or lifting restrictions on concealed carry, for example.
In Wisconsin, the Republicans enjoy a Senate supermajority as a result of Dan Knodl’s defeat of a Democrat lawyer for an open seat. Being two seats shy of a supermajority in the House, the GOP cannot completely overrule Governor Tony Evers — though they can impeach him and other officials.
North Carolina is the site of the Republicans’ latest significant gain, with the GOP enjoying a House supermajority as a result of Rep. Jeremy LaCombe defecting from the Democrats on April 10th.
At the beginning of April, another North Carolina representative, Tricia Cotham, publicly announced her intention to register as a Republican, too.
In a press conference held in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 4th, Rep. Cotham lamented that the “modern Democratic party has become unrecognizable to me and to so many others throughout this state,” adding that her former party “wants to villainize anyone who has free thought.”
