The two ways Republican politicians are undermining cities

Maresa Strano and Lydia Bean's report and piece on the misuse of state preemption laws were cited in the Washington Post.

Two political trends that have accelerated over the past decade are driving Republicans in this direction. Increasingly, the mayor of any large city is a Democrat — even in red states. Of the United States’ 100 biggest cities, only 26 are run by Republicans. And those mayors are fairly left-wing on many issues, as the Democratic Party has become increasingly ideologically consistent across the country. At the same time, state governments have become more dominated by Republicans. In 23 states, Republicans control both the state legislature and the governor’s office, up from only nine in 2010.

In most states, the big metropolitan areas are where the action is — they are the centers of population, economic development and education policy. Republican governors and state legislators don’t want to be cut out of the most important decisions in their states, particularly since they aren’t likely to agree with the choices Democratic officials make.

Enter power-stripping. Over the past decade, wherever Republicans have control of state government, they are consistently passing laws putting strings on cities and counties. For much of the 2010s, Republicans were stopping local governments from raising the minimum wage, creating universal paid leave, increasing taxes or regulating businesses. In 2020, they rolled back or suspended numerous municipal covid-19 restrictions.

Last year, Republican legislators and governors across the country banned provisions adopted in Democratic cities in 2020 that made it easier to vote, such as ballot drop boxes and longer hours and more locations for early voting. They also made it harder for cities to change their policing practices and restricted how schools could teach racism, both attempts to rein in the racial liberalism that emerged in urban areas after the killing of George Floyd and resulting protests.

Now, Republican officials have begun going a step further — literally removing left-leaning officials from key posts to prevent them from enacting Democratic policy goals.