[Restorer]

Historically the US political parties have not agreed to admit one state at a time, but could only act if there were two new states, each with equal and opposite "red or blue" tendencies. The last two states admitted - Alaska (R) and Hawai (D) - have maintained their partisan identities for the succeeding half-century.

That didn't sound right to me, so I looked it up. Alaska in 1958 elected Democrats to all state offices, the House and both Senate seats, mostly by substantial margins.

[rmmcdaniell]

That didn't sound right to me, so I looked it up. Alaska in 1958 elected Democrats to all state offices, the House and both Senate seats, mostly by substantial margins.

Actually, it was assumed that Hawaii would be the Republican state to balance out Democratic Alaska.

Indeed for the first election or two, Hawaii sent Republicans to congress. Then the two states' alliances shifted and have never looked back.