Flyover States Seeing Red?
With West Virginia Governor Jim Justice switching his party affiliation to Republican last week, there is now only one Democratic governor remaining among the 14 states across the country that are completely enveloped by other states (i.e. those states that do not at least partially border an ocean, lake, or a foreign nation) – John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Republicans hold the governorships in the remaining 13: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Democrats do hold four of the 28 U.S. Senate seats in these 14 states: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
It would be (way) more fitting to state that Justice showed his true colours and went back to the GOPPERS; even if an inactive one, J Conley Justice has been a Republican much much longer than “Predisent45”. As for Manchin, there would likely be little if any gall were he to follow in his gubernatorial recruit’s footsteps – just as there was not when Senators Shelby of AL and Jeffords of VT left their ancestral parties.
“…at least partially border an ocean, ‘lake’, or a foreign nation…” Hm, if Washoe Lake and Great Salt Lake were counted as such, there would be just 12 of those (the 14 sans NV and UT).