LANSING – A major effort to win Republican control of Michigan’s Legislature, along with similar efforts in other states, helped ensure the U.S. House stayed in Republican control in the 2012 election because of redistricting changes enacted in the states, so said a report that was released earlier this month by the national Republican State Leadership Council.

The report said Michigan was the perhaps the best example of how the focus on electing Republicans to the Legislature and controlling redistricting helped ensure the GOP held onto the U.S. House, even with President Barack Obama winning re-election and with Democratic congressional candidates getting a total of 1.1 million votes more than Republican candidates.

The effort was especially successful in Michigan, the report said, even though voters cast 240,000 more votes for Democratic congressional candidates than for Republicans.

The campaign in Michigan and other states was code-named REDMAP, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Michigan Republicans did not return a call for comment on the report.

The liberal group ThinkProgress said the report showed that “only through the miracle of gerrymandering did Republicans end up controlling the House.”

The RSLC is an umbrella organization for Republican state officials, including lieutenant governors, secretaries of state, attorney generals and legislators.

The report by the organization, issued on January 4 and posted to its website, said the successful candidate recruitment efforts, fundraising and campaign message still had to “rest on the congressional district lines, and this was an area where Republicans had an unquestioned advantage.”

The effort began before the 2010 election and targeted states where the group felt it could have the biggest impact on congressional election lines. Overall, the report said, the RSLC raised more than $30 million for the effort, and spent $18 million after Labor Day 2010.

In Michigan alone, the report said, the RSLC spent $1 million with the House Republican Campaign Committee and the state Republican Party. 2010 was a year dominated by the Tea Party movement and Republicans enjoyed a sweep almost across the nation.

But the report credits its efforts in helping the GOP pick up some 20 total seats in the House.

Along with an increased Senate majority and the election of Governor Rick Snyder, the report said, “The effectiveness of REDMAP is perhaps most clear in the state of Michigan.”

Democrats enjoyed a huge victory this past November, the report said, with Obama winning re-election here and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) crushing her Republican opponent Pete Hoekstra by almost 20 percentage points.

“But Republicans at the state level maintained majorities in both houses of the Legislature (of course, Michigan’s Senate was not up for election in 2012 which the report did not note) and voters elected a 9-5 Republican majority to represent them in Congress.”

The REDMAP campaign in Michigan and across the nation was a major reason why Republicans were able to win control of the U.S. House and most legislative houses nationwide, while winning just 8 of 33 U.S. Senate seats open and less than 48 percent of the presidential vote.

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