By David Jordan
Since the 2010 midterm elections the Republican Party has made long term investments in flipping as many state legislatures as possible. And over the last three campaigns, their gamble has paid off.
In the past six years, the Republicans have managed to take nearly 1,000 state legislature seats from the Democrats across the country.
The Republicans once controlled 14 state chambers in 2010, but after the 2014 election cycle the number rose to 30. Much of the switch can be credited to a stronger fundraising apparatus on the Republican side, and in turn they have much more in their coffers to finance campaigns.
“[The Republicans] have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in winning state houses,” said David Axelrod at a recent question and answer session at the Medill School of Journalism. Axelrod is currently the director of the University of Chicago’s Institute for Politics and a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama.
In the last decade, the Republican State Leadership Committee has raised over $165 million nationally to help campaign for Republican candidates, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. During the same period their counterpart, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, raised less than $65 million.
But Illinois Democrats have remained competitive despite national trends.