One party to rule them all

For some reason I was thinking about an interesting fact earlier today: The last time Massachusetts elected any Republicans to the House or Senate was 1994. Today Massachusetts has 10 D representatives and 2 D senators. Are there any other states so single-party on a federal level?

When people think of rock-ribbed Republican states, they think of states like...Utah. Home of Jim Matheson, D-UT-02. (That is, he is a Democrat from the second district of Utah.) Wyoming? Gary Trauner lost by only a few percent in 2008, and by circa 1000 votes in 2006, for Wyoming's at-large House seat. (At-large means a state only has one House seat.) Idaho? Walt Minnick, D-ID-01. Also, four-term Senator Frank Church. Let's see, what else...The only federal-level Republican from both Dakotas is Senator John Thune of South Dakota. North Dakota's delegation is all Democratic, mostly because of the lingering influence of the NPL. Nebraska divides its electoral votes by congressional district, and Obama won in the Second CD (Omaha). Kansas has a D representative, Dennis Moore, and so does Oklahoma (Dan Boren).

Any other Republican states? All the southern states have at least one Democratic representative, mostly because they are required by the Voting Rights Act to have black majority districts. So as a consequence we have Bennie Thompson, Artur Davis, John Lewis, Jim Clyburn, etc. Can't forget Texas, that state is pretty damned Republican. Plenty of Democratic representatives, again mostly from (minority) - majority districts. Texas might elect a Democratic senator in the not too distant future, but that is a subject for another post.

Democratic states! Can't forget Vermont, which elected a socialist senator in 2006. Last Republican elected federally was Jim Jeffords in 2000, who later started caucusing with the Democrats. Rhode Island also elected a Republican in 2000, Lincoln Chafee - he was defeated in 2006. Both Jeffords and Chafee were of that vanishingly rare breed the Liberal Republican. Chafee endorsed Obama in 2008. New York has Republican parts Upstate and Illinois has Republican parts Downstate. California is very Republican once you get away from the coast. Maryland has one Republican representative. Hawaii is mostly one party, except...

I've noticed something interesting. A lot of "red states" elect Democratic governors, and vice versa.

"Blue states" with Republican governors: Hawaii, Vermont, Connecticut, California, Rhode Island, and if I turned the clock back three years, I could add New York and Massachusetts.

"Red states" with Democratic governors: Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee

...Anyway, might as well answer my initial question. As far as Republican states, Utah is pretty one party. It has a D representative, but I cannot imagine a D winning statewide. I would say the same for Idaho and most states in the South. Utah and Idaho both have large Mormon blocs, and generally Democrats in the South are minorities with political views that the white Republicans disagree with. Democratic states: A lot of the really Democratic states do have Republican governors, but they have no Republican bench: that is, the congressional delegation and state legislature are overwhelmingly Democratic. Why do they elect Republican governors sometimes? For balance, perhaps. To keep the legislature in check. Often the Republicans are from outside government, they are businessmen. Anyway.

One more day in Houston and then I fly back on Saturday.