One-Party Rule in the States

As he steps to front doors along the winding roads here in his rural House district, Minnesota State Representative Joe Radinovich announces that he is there to introduce himself, and “in case you want to yell at me about something.” There is reason to anticipate yelling.

Mr. Radinovich and his fellow Democrats won control of this state’s government two years ago by flipping both legislative chambers, and pushed through tax increases for the wealthiest Minnesotans, acceptance of President Obama’s Medicaid expansion for the poor, and approval of same-sex marriage.

Now Mr. Radinovich, 28, is facing the same Republican rival he defeated by just 323 votes in 2012, and his opponent is mounting a blunt, aggressive campaign accusing Democrats of overreaching.

“The only thing people are more disgusted with than deadlock in St. Paul is one-party control in St. Paul,” said Dale Lueck, 65, a Navy retiree who raises beef cattle and is Mr. Radinovich’s challenger. “Even people who thought that was a good idea at one point have come to be concerned about the kind of excesses that happened,” Mr. Lueck said the other day, then rumbled off in his white pickup to knock on more voters’ doors.

Twenty-three states are now controlled by Republicans, and 13 by Democrats, the most states under single-party rule in six decades.