I mean it kind of depends. Republican legislators didn't manage to overturn vetoes on either of the bills they targeted during the baby fit session. But like I said the other day, I was never sure that overriding the vetoes was the primary aim of this exercise. For many of them, I think the main purpose was to hold a rally and raise money off of their trademark brand of victimhood trolling. All of that, they managed to accomplish. And even though, there was a moment when we thought they might have ended up accidentally imprisoning themselves in the capitol indefinitely, the two day session was mostly a no-harm, no-foul event.
Still, next year may be different. House Speaker Clay Schexnayder said in a statement yesterday that "veto sessions should be the norm from now on.” Already, there is speculation about what that might mean for next year's redistricting battle. Today the reporters on Twitter are mostly saying the failed overrides spell trouble for the Republicans there. Here is a pretty good sample of the consensus opinion.
Edwards ability to beat back any veto overrides has implications for the state’s political redistricting process coming up early next year. It makes it less likely that the Republicans in the Legislature will be able to redraw the state’s political districts without involving the Democratic governor. They now know it could be difficult to get enough votes to override a governor’s veto and cut the governor out of the political redistricting process completely.
I'm not so sure that's what it means, though. At least it might mean they still have to negotiate. But the failure to override vetoes on two controversial bills facing headwinds from business groups and law enforcement doesn't necessarily mean they can't still go nuclear on a question of pure partisan politics. At the very least, they've now established that the threat exists. And that in and of itself is bound to affect the discussion next year. Even if they can't prove the nuke isn't a dud.
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