US News
Democrats win most governors' mansions, statehouses
By DPA
Nov 8, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - Discontent with President George W Bush's Republican party at the national level spilled over into state races, as Democrats in Tuesday elections took control of the majority of governorships and state legislatures.

Democrats won a majority of the US state governor's elections Tuesday, overturning 12 years of Republican dominance as discontent at the national level spilled over into state races.

Democrats also gained control of 23 state legislatures, four more than they controlled before the election, as of Wednesday morning. Republicans controlled 15 of the 50 state legislatures and nine were split. Final counts were not yet available in two states, and one state has a nonpartisan legislature.

The turnover echoed a similar trend in the lower US House of Representatives, where Democrats regained the majority after 12 years in the minority and handed a setback to US President George W Bush.

As yet undecided was the fate of Congress' upper Senate, where two races remained too tight to call.

Controlling state government lends valuable political muscle to parties at the state level, and both major parties view the governorships as tests of their popularity.

Governors, especially from larger states, often become contenders in presidential politics. Four of the five US presidents since 1976 won the White House from gubernatorial platforms.

The 50 state legislatures are hotbeds of grassroots American democracy, and hold the often-overlooked keys to control of Congress. In all but a few states, the legislatures ultimately draw the maps for US House districts, which is often decisive in deciding which party captures those seats in Congress.

Going into gubernatorial elections, the Republicans held 28 states to the Democrats' 22, but with the national mood souring on the centre-right Republicans and Bush's war in Iraq, voters cut into that control in the 36 races for governor this year. The remaining 14 governorships were not up for election this year.

In total, Democrats managed to gain six governorships to gain control of 28 states in a victory that could give the party a major boost in the run-up to the 2008 presidential elections.

Bucking the trend was California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, a centrist Republican who scored an easy win by more than 20 points.

'I love doing sequels, I tell you,' the former Hollywood star said. 'But this without any doubt is my favourite sequel.'

Elsewhere in the country, the night belonged to Democrats. Deval Patrick, a one-time assistant US attorney general, will become the first black governor of the northeastern state of Massachusetts - and only the second African-American in US history to hold a governorship.

Patrick was elected over Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who would have been the state's first elected female governor, and will replace Republican Governor Mitt Romney.

'We're getting help with discontent with the Iraq war, and we're getting help from Washington gridlock,' said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, head of the Democratic Governors Association. 'It's helping elect Democratic governors.'

In Republican stronghold Ohio, Democrat Ted Strickland won the governor's race, beating Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who gained notoriety in the 2004 presidential elections by ruling that ballots had to be printed on very specific paper in order to be accepted as valid.

Another big Democratic win came in Maryland, where Martin O'Mally was declared the winner over Republican incumbent Bob Ehrlich.

In other gubernatorial races, Richardson held his seat, while Democrats Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming, Janet Napolitano in Arizona, Brad Henry in Oklahoma, John Baldacci in Maine, Kathleen Sebelius in Kansas and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in New York won for the Democrats.

There was better news for Republicans in Nebraska, where Dave Heineman won, and in Texas where Rick Perry notched a comfortable victory.