Assessing the Gubernatorial Results

Steven Malanga joins Aaron Renn to discuss the results of this week’s gubernatorial elections. States such as Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin flipped blue after eight years of GOP governance. In highly publicized races in Florida and Georgia and heavily blue states like Maryland and Massachusetts, Republicans prevailed. All told, Democrats gained seven governorships.

Ten years ago, Democrats won a host of governorships during President Obama’s first election, and 2009 proved be a record year for state tax hikes. A decade later, state tax revenues have still not recovered to their pre-recession levels, and costs are rising (especially for state Medicaid programs). But if history is any guide, tax hikes and spending increases will be on the agenda after years of comparative taxing discipline.​

Read Malanga’s story at City Journal about the gubernatorial elections, “A Tax-and-Spend Revival in the States?”