Exert:
JACKSON, Miss.—The Republican Party has launched a major push to capture the Mississippi House of Representatives this fall, a goal that has eluded it since Reconstruction and that would remove nearly every vestige of Democratic control from the state’s government.
A win for Republicans in Mississippi on Nov. 8 would complete a near sweep of state governments across the South that began decades ago and accelerated in last year’s midterm elections. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee now have Republican governors and the GOP controls both houses of the legislature in those states and North Carolina.
Mississippi is one of only four states holding legislative elections this year. The others are Louisiana, Virginia and New Jersey, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Democrats now enjoy a 13-seat advantage in the 122-member Mississippi House, while the Senate and six of seven other statewide offices are under Republican control. Attorney General Jim Hood is the only Democrat to hold statewide office.
Full story: Wall Street Journal
8/24/11
