Democratic voters’ hopes for victories in many state legislatures appeared squandered by week’s end, as election returns indicated that Republicans would continue to dominate most statehouses
Those outcomes will have significant consequences for higher education, since the U.S. Congress is likely to remain gridlocked, as public universities struggle to press through the coronavirus pandemic.
Early results indicate that just two state legislative chambers will change party control — the New Hampshire House and Senate will both flip from Democratic to Republican, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Results are not final in many states, including Arizona, where at least one legislative chamber could flip from Republican to Democratic control.
Of the 11 governors’ races held this year, only the open seat in Montana changed from a Democrat to a Republican. If just two state legislative chambers ultimately flip, the number of this year’s changes will be the lowest since 1944, when four changed parties, according to the conference.
The lack of change in party control means campus leaders will have some assurance about the political landscape and legislative priorities for the coming year, said Thomas Harnisch, vice president for government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers.
Most public-university governing-board members are appointed by governors and confirmed by state houses, senates, or some combination of state lawmakers. Since the control of few state legislative chambers or gubernatorial seats changed hands in this week’s election, there will probably be little change in politicians’ priorities in selecting new board members.
In North Carolina, Democrats pushed to seize control of the General Assembly, but Republicans held their majority. Republican dominance of the North Carolina legislature has pulled members of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s board uncommonly close to lawmakers.
Below the statehouse level, there were some notable, more granular developments.
Democrats will make up the majority of the elected board of the University of Colorado for the first time in four decades, The Colorado Sun reported. Ilana Spiegel, the regent who flipped a seat to create the majority, ran on issues like lowering costs and expanding access to higher education.
Colorado’s flagship is one of four nationally led by elected, not appointed, board members. At the University of Michigan, a Republican candidate appears poised to pick up a seat once held by a Democrat. That candidate, Sarah Hubbard, advocated for reopening campuses safely amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and she pledged to curtail spending and advance college affordability. Still, Democratic regents retained the majority of the eight-member board.
In two states, ballot measures on board composition and control looked likely to fail. A measure on the ballot in Nevada would remove the elected board of regents from the state’s constitution, allowing lawmakers to change governance structures. As of Friday morning, votes to approve the measure were trailing the opposition by about three percentage points. North Dakotans soundly rejected an amendment to expand the board membership to 15 from eight and elongate term lengths to six years from four.
And where voters weighed in directly — on ballot initiatives that could have increased funding for higher education at a time when it’s desperately seeking added revenue — results were mixed.
A ballot measure in Arizona is one bright spot for colleges. A new 3.5 percent tax on individuals who earn more than $250,000 a year has been approved by voters.. Some of the estimated $1 billion in new money is meant to be used for career and technical education.
New Mexico voters also approved more than $150 million in bonds to be used for construction at some of the state’s public colleges.
But Colorado voters approved a measure to cut the state-income-tax rates, which will reduce state revenues by more than $150 million in the next budget year, according to new reports.
In Illinois, a measure to enact a new graduated income tax failed, leading Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, to predict deep state budget cuts. If it had passed, the new tax rates would have given the state an estimated $3 billion in new revenue.
