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2 unusual facts about swing state


Swing state

For instance, a Republican candidate (the more conservative of the two major parties) can expect to easily win many of the Southern states like Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, which historically have a very conservative culture, very religious, and a more recent history of voting for Republican candidates.

Although a constitutional amendment would be the simplest form for changing the rules, the difficulty of the task has led to a proposal to make States enter a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.


Grover Cleveland Presidential campaign, 1888

The Republican Party nominated former U.S. Senator Benjamin Harrison (from the swing state of Indiana) to run against Cleveland in 1888 after 1884 Republican Presidential nominee James G. Blaine (who lost to Cleveland by a razor-thin margin) refused to run again and after several other candidates failed to win enough support.


see also

History of Montana

Though historically a swing state politically, since the 1988 election, the state tended toward Republican party domination until 2004, when the election of Democratic governor and a return of the legislature to divided party rule temporarily moved the state back into the swing status, solidified by the election of Senator Jon Tester in 2006.