They were on a constant roll, but they now realize they have some tough battles down there. For generations, Democrats controlled Southern politics. Beginning in the 1960s, Republicans made a long, seemingly inexorable advance, claiming Southern state electoral votes in presidential races, securing governorships and congressional seats, then reaching down into legislatures and county courthouses. Another reason was the steady influx of new residents who had grown up far from the South and felt no loyalty to homegrown Democratic candidates. At the beginning of the 21st century, Republicans can boast of holding 30 more congressional seats from Southern states than Democrats do.
Republicans control the governorships and legislatures as well as the congressional delegations.
But Democrats still hold the majority in twice as many Southern state legislatures, and they have reclaimed some governorships and U.S. Senate seats in recent elections. In 1998, for example, Don Siegelman, a Democrat, dislodged incumbent Republican Gov. Fob James in Alabama. Jim Hodges did the same to Republican Gov. David Beasley of South Carolina. In a key Senate race in 1998, North Carolina Democrat John Edwards upset Lauch Faircloth, a conservative Republican incumbent. D.C. Bositis found that in Georgia blacks accounted for 19 percent of the total vote in 1994.