From the New York Times:

The party’s victories on Tuesday, giving Republicans a majority of the nation’s governorships and legislative chambers, came at a politically advantageous moment. Republicans will now have the upper hand next year just as states begin the once-a-decade process of drawing new Congressional districts, when both parties traditionally try to gain an electoral edge through gerrymandering and other forms of creative cartography.

Democrats, who had been making steady gains at the state level for years, were routed. Republicans were elected governor Tuesday in at least 11 states formerly held by Democrats, including key states like Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania that are expected to lose seats in Congress after the new census figures are released.

And Republicans were on track to win control of at least 18 legislative chambers — gaining control of both houses of the legislature in Alabama and North Carolina for the first time since Reconstruction.

“Republicans picked a good year to have a dramatic win,” said Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures who studies redistricting and elections.

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