State Senator Bill Dix, the new Republican majority leader, said his party had campaigned on such changes<br />— which would cut deeply into unions’ negotiating power — and intended to make good on its commitments.<br />In addition to Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire became one-party states with the election of Republican governors,<br />and Republicans in Iowa snatched away the State Senate, where Democrats had held their last grip on power.<br />“But we can certainly move forward with a conservative agenda that’s a reasonable conservative agenda.”<br />Republicans will control the governor’s office and both chambers of the state<br />legislature in four more states — Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire.<br />When Republicans in Kentucky seized total control of the state government last year, Damon Thayer, the majority leader in the State Senate, began<br />asking around for advice from counterparts in other capitals where the party already dominated both the legislative and executive branches.<br />And in New Hampshire, State Senator Jeb Bradley, the Republican majority leader, said so-called right-to-work legislation was a top priority.<br />One answer impressed him, Mr. Thayer said, from a senior Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin: “Move quickly.”<br />Kentucky Republicans have done just that, swiftly passing laws to roll back the powers of labor unions and restrict access to abortion.
