2012: Massachusetts

Senate: Brown (R)
Legislature: Republicans +13 (+81%)
State Senate: Democrats +1 (-20%)
House: Democrats 10, Republicans 0
Redistricting: Democrats

Massachusetts is regarded as another disaster. It really wasn't that bad. Only one of the 9 Republican candidates was an experienced legislator/campaigner. That person, Jeff Perry, was saddled with the police misconduct charge and was never able to shake it. These were underfunded bad candidates going up against Democrats who had the first dollar of donations leftover from years of having no competition. Republicans didn't win but did get 42% of the vote in 5 of the 9 districts. In the past Republicans struggled to get 30%.

Winning a seat in Massachusetts wouldn't have been worth much. The winner would've been a moderate like Scott Brown. Republicans have a big enough majority that one more moderate who can't be counted on to vote Republican won't be missed. The state will lose a House seat and Democrats will be redistricting. If the GOP won a seat Democrats would've taken the district apart and split it up into other districts. They'll likely lose it in 2012.

The GOP went from 16 to 29 representatives in the Massachusetts State House. That number could rise to 31 or 32 after all the recounts are done. There is no state house in the country where the Republican delegation doubled. Granted, they are going from small to less small, but doubling the areas where Republicans can win has to bode well for the future. The Democrats can't make the entire state non-competitive in 2012. Maybe next time they'll have better candidates to run for Congress.

Scott Brown likely won't be favored to retain his senate seat. Martha Coakley's poor campaign and the environment helped him win. He'll have a better opponent in 2012 and won't have nearly as favorable an environment. Brown will have to mount a good campaign to win again.