Which State has the longest continuing reign of single party dominance? I understand the southern states were monopolized by the Democratic Party for about a hundred years after the civil war, but the Republicans seem to have supplanted any unbroken streak of one party controlling the governorship or the legislature.
I know Washington has gone 20 consecutive years with only Democrats as governors. But I’m sure some other state can top that.
Vermont had Republican governors from 1854-1963. That dates back to the beginning of the Republican Party.
Mississippi was Democratic from 1876-1988, even longer.
Ok, but what state has the longest streak of one party rule that continues up until today?
Kansas has had it’s share of Democratic governors, but hasn’t elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1932.
South Dakota has had a Republican governor since 1979. Utah has had a Republican governor since 1985.
How are we definging this? Governor, state house(s), congressional delegation or all 3?
They each should probably get their own separate categories.
I think that you answered your own question in the OP. The “Solid South” was just that. For the century between Reconstruction and the 1950s-1970s, the Republicans weren’t elected to any offices in the South. To give one example, Texas suffragists bypassed the symbolic victory of attaining the right to vote in the general election and instead ‘settled’ for the right to vote in the primaries. Considering that the Republican percentage of the vote was in the low single digits, they didn’t lose much by settling.
Arguably, the modern dominance of the Republican Party in the South can be seen as a sort of continuation of the Solid South, in that conservative “Dixiecrats” switched parties after it became clear that their power was diluted at best in the Democratic Party and the Republicans were happy to have them.
Have Republicans ever had any electoral success in Hawaii?
Answering my own question: Yes they have.
Beat me to it. We’ve had a Democrat governor since statehood in 1959.
State Legislature: The Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama state legislatures (both House and Senate) haven’t been controlled by Republicans since Reconstruction. Maryland hasn’t had its’ state legislature controlled by Republicans since the 1910’s.
Congressional Delegation: There are six states where all members of Congress (House and Senate) are members of one party. Alaska hasn’t elected a Dem since Mike Gravel was re-elected to the Senate in 1974, while North Dakota hasn’t elected a Rep since Mark Andrews was elected to the Senate in 1980.