The elections that matter most

Whoever controls state legislatures controls the electoral map.

Many of my fellow Canadians don’t know that many American state legislatures are also up for election next week, and even fewer likely care. Which isn’t surprising - three provinces (New Brunswick, British Columbia and Saskatchewan) had provincial elections in the past few weeks, and how many of you even noticed?

Elections at the state level can be a very big deal, however. Electoral districts for the House of Representatives are drawn by the state legislatures, and Republicans have used their advantage to gerrymander districts to their advantage. Democrats have the opportunity to turn that around next week:

Most of the attention on the 2020 election is focused on who will sit in the White House for the next four years. But the 2020 election could also help decide who controls the House of Representatives for the next decade.

This is the last election before data from the census is released, so whoever emerges from this year holding power on the state level will have the power to redr…