When asking the question of which state parties are the most effective, one of the first questions I ask is how effective is the party at keeping control of a state. If this is how we define a political party to be effective, then the most effective parties are the ones who are able to maintain absolute control of state government for the longest period of time. We can define these parties as the most effective state parties in the party.
Using Wikipedia as our source, we can then derive a table of the most effective state parties, based on how long it has been since the minority party controlled each of several different offices. The most effective state party is then the one that has maintained absolute power the longest over the state government.
Some states can be immediately discounted because they have failed to maintain absolute control of the state’s government right now. These states are:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusets
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Vermont
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
These 23 states can be considered swing states.
For the Democrats, the following table can then be derived
| State | Governor | Any state executive office | Either state legislative chamber | US Senate | President | Last R official |
| California | 2010 | 2010 | 1996 | 1992 | 1984 | 2010 |
| Connecticut | 2010 | 2010 | 1996 | 1988 | 1988 | 2010 |
| Hawaii | 2010 | 2010 | 1962 | 1976 | 1984 | 2010 |
| Rhode Island | 2010 | 2010 | 1958 | 2006 | 1984 | 2010 |
| New Jersey | 2017 | 2017 | 2001 | 2013 | 1988 | 2017 |
| Delaware | 1992 | 2018 | 2008 | 2000 | 1988 | 2018 |
| Illinois | 2018 | 2018 | 2002 | 2016 | 1988 | 2018 |
| New Mexico | 2018 | 2018 | 2016 | 2008 | 2004 | 2018 |
| New York | 2006 | 2008 | 2018 | 1998 | 1984 | 2018 |
| Colorado | 2006 | 2018 | 2018 | 2020 | 2004 | 2020 |
| Oregon | 1986 | 2020 | 2006 | 2008 | 1984 | 2020 |
| Washington | 1984 | 2021 | 2017 | 2000 | 1984 | 2021 |
| Nevada | 2018 | 2022 | 2016 | 2018 | 2004 | 2022 |
These are the most effective Democratic parties in the country, with California, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Rhode Island being the most effective. Which of these four is the best Democratic party can be debated, based on your values and how you measure “best”. But in my view, there is no question that the most effective Democratic party is one of these 4.
For the Republicans, the following:
| State | Governor | Any state executive office | Either state legislative chamber | US Senate | President | Last R official |
| Utah | 1984 | 2000 | 1978 | 1976 | 1964 | 2000 |
| Texas | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 1994 | 1976 | 2002 |
| Idaho | 1994 | 2006 | 1960 | 1980 | 1964 | 2006 |
| Tennessee | 2010 | 2010 | 2008 | 1994 | 1996 | 2010 |
| Wyoming | 2010 | 2010 | 1966 | 1977 | 1964 | 2010 |
| Nebraska | 1998 | 2006 | 2012 | 1964 | 2012 | |
| Arkansas | 2014 | 2014 | 2012 | 2014 | 1996 | 2014 |
| South Carolina | 2002 | 2014 | 2000 | 2004 | 1976 | 2014 |
| South Dakota | 1978 | 2006 | 1994 | 2014 | 1964 | 2014 |
| Indiana | 2004 | 2016 | 2010 | 2018 | 2008 | 2018 |
| North Dakota | 1992 | 2008 | 1994 | 2018 | 1964 | 2018 |
| Alabama | 2002 | 2010 | 2010 | 2020 | 1976 | 2020 |
| Mississippi | 2003 | 2020 | 2011 | 1988 | 1976 | 2020 |
The Republican Party of Utah has dominated the politics of that state more thoroughly and for a longer period of time than any other party in any other state, and Texas is a close second.
A big lesson from all of this is that pretty much every state can swing either way with enough campaigning and the right candidate.
Out of 50 states, 23 of them do not have one party completely dominating every political office.
13 states have Democrats dominate every aspect of state politics.
The other 13 states have Republicans dominate every aspect of state politics.
Out of the 26 states with total partisan control, 6 of those states have gained total party control since 2020. 17 states which saw a party gain and keep complete control since the 2010 midterms.
Only Texas, Utah, and Idaho have had one party dominate every aspect of political life since before the 2008 election.
The lesson of this is, no matter what state you live in, whether you are in the minority or the majority, no matter how daunting it may seem that the politics in your state are absolutely dominated by one party or another, things can always change. No party in any state has dominated every aspect of politics for more than 22 years. The majority of states (29 to be precise) have seen multiparty control since the 2020 election.
No state is guaranteed to have complete partisan control by one party or another.
With this knowledge, go vote now and be heard in this month’s election. Your vote counts.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_U.S._states and individual pages for each state.