For 16 years, Democrats have tried to reclaim the statehouse power Republicans won in the 2010 midterms. On Tuesday, they took back more of it than in any of those years.

Democrats flipped at least seven Republican-held legislative chambers, broke at least seven GOP supermajorities and took control of some statehouses that had been under Republican control for decades.

The victories will give Democrats more say over lawmaking in the states. Perhaps as significant, the wins also reshape the mid-decade redistricting war that Trump started last year. Once the new legislatures are seated in January, Republicans in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina will no longer be able to pass new congressional maps without Democratic votes. And new Democratic trifectas in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota give the party the power to redraw maps of its own before the 2028 elections. Greta Neubauer, the incoming Democratic majority leader in the Wisconsin Assembly, said Wednesday that Democrats would consider doing so to undo a Republican gerrymander, Politico reported.

Democrats are poised to control both chambers of the Arizona Legislature for the first time in 60 years, which would give them their first trifecta in the state since the 1960s. They won control of the state House in Texas for the first time in 24 years, in Georgia for the first time in 22 years and in North Carolina for the first time in 16. In Wisconsin, they flipped both chambers after 16 years of Republican control, securing a state trifecta with the election of a Democratic governor. The list goes on.

In many ways, the results unwind a strategy Republicans have pursued since 2010. That year the GOP flipped more than 20 legislative chambers, took control of redistricting in states across the country and used that power to draw maps that helped it hold on to its majorities.

“Republicans have been playing the long game,” said Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures.

Democrats kept competing under those maps, Williams said, because they see state legislatures as the architects of American democracy. Legislators draw district lines, write voting laws, oversee how elections are run and set the rules for certifying presidential results.

“All of these things impact Democrats up and down the ballot, so we’re going to continue to keep that as a North Star and an understanding that each of these elections potentially could have those implications,” Williams said. “At the same time, we’re ensuring that these campaigns are built on the issues that voters care about and that we’re meeting voters’ needs.”

Voters’ distaste for President Donald Trump’s war with Iran and the high cost of living led them to back Democrats at the top of the ticket. It also led them to vote the party line all the way down the ballot, said John Johnson, who studies Wisconsin politics at Marquette University Law School.

“Most people, when they go into the ballot box, barely know the name of their legislative representative,” Johnson said. “They’re voting based on that R and that D next to candidates’ names.”

But Democrats did more than ride a favorable national environment, Johnson said. The party recruited candidates who weren’t career politicians, such as teachers and small-business owners, and who were already known in their communities.

Menomonie, a western Wisconsin city, voted for Trump by 16 points in 2024. On Tuesday, voters there ousted their Republican incumbent in the state Assembly. They elected Democrat Jeremiah Fredrickson, a bullfrog farmer, by 7 points.

“It’s the kind of thing that every party always says they’re doing, but this time you really can see the fruit of it,” Johnson said.

Part of the reason the party saw such resounding victories is because many candidates avoided partisan messaging and didn’t run as traditional Democrats, said Mandara Meyers, executive director of the States Project, a group that works to build Democratic power in state legislatures.

“They are running on their own personal brand, and that’s why it’s so important to find candidates who reflect and know their communities, because people are fed up with both parties,” Meyers said. “They want someone to represent them who they feel like understands them.”

That frustration extends to Democrats. Despite Tuesday’s sweeping wins, the majority of voters do not have a favorable opinion of the party, according to The Voter Poll. The party’s image problem has dogged it since its losses in 2024. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, compared with 40% for the GOP. To win back the White House in 2028, Democrats will need to improve that standing.

Running state legislatures could be the party’s secret weapon in that effort, Meyers said, because it gives Democrats the power to deliver on the local issues their communities face. A record of results close to home could help the party rebuild its brand on the ground. That record may matter even more because Trump has said he plans to be “Mr. Veto” in the next Congress, which would limit what Democrats can deliver from Washington.

“Having folks who have those firsthand experiences in their communities making decisions about what’s going to improve lives, l think that kind of authentic connection with constituents is a really important message for Democrats,” Meyers said.

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