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SACRAMENTO -- At the start of the year, California Republicans made a strategic decision to focus their limited money and campaign networks on a handful of state legislative races to block Democrats from gaining a supermajority and build a farm team for the future.

It paid off Tuesday when the minority party protected their most competitive legislative races while ousting incumbent Democrats -- the first time that had happened in 20 years.

The gains prevented Democrats from regaining supermajority status in the 40-member Senate and eliminated the supermajority in the 80-member Assembly.

A party holding a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers can raise taxes or override the governor's vetoes without support from the minority party.

Republicans secured the 14 seats they needed in the Senate to prevent a supermajority by wresting an open Orange County seat from Democrats. As of Saturday, the GOP had picked up the 27 seats needed in the Assembly to prevent Democrats' from having a two-thirds majority -- and they held the lead in two other races.

One key battle was in the East Bay's 16th Assembly District, where GOP candidate Catharine Baker defeated Democrat Tim Sbranti, giving Republicans a rare Bay Area foothold.

Some political analysts say the importance of the supermajority has been exaggerated because many moderate Democratic legislators would be reluctant to raise taxes without a vote of the people -- and Gov. Jerry Brown would veto such a move anyway. But Jim Brulte, the state Republican Party chairman, says blocking Democrats' supermajority will force them to negotiate with Republicans on many issues.

Party leaders interpret their gains as a voter mandate for a balanced Legislature. "Californians want to see Democrats and Republicans working together to deliver results," said Assembly Minority Leader Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto. "That is what our caucus intends to do."

Whether the Republican gains last week are lasting will be tested in two years, when an open presidential election is expected to draw far more voters to the polls in a state where Democrats enjoy a 15 percentage point registration advantage.

Although the final figures haven't been tabulated, it's expected that Tuesday's turnout will be under 50 percent -- a record low for a California general election.

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Republicans deny Democrats their supermajorities