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Election results, 2021: Number of state legislators by party
Democrats lost a net 14 seats in the three state legislative chambers that held regularly-scheduled elections on November 2, 2021. Republicans gained a net 14 seats. There was no change in the number of seats held by third-party and independent legislators.[1] To learn about the current partisan composition of state legislatures, click here.
Overall, Democrats lost one seat and Republicans gained one seat in state senates. In state houses, Democrats lost 13 seats and Republicans gained 13.
Two chambers—the New Jersey General Assembly and Virginia House of Delegates— held elections in both 2021 and 2019. In 2019, eight total seats changed party control for a net gain of four seats for Democrats. In 2021 across those same chambers, a total of 13 seats changed party control resulting in a net gain of 13 seats for Republicans.
Lists of state legislators by party
The tables below show the total changes in state legislative seats, state senate seats, and state house seats, respectively. Totals shown below include partisan data only from the three chambers that held regularly-scheduled elections in 2021.
| Change in state legislative partisan composition, 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | Net[2] | ||||
| Democratic | 132 | 118 | -14 | |||
| Republican | 88 | 102 | +14 | |||
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 220 | 220 | - | |||
| State-specific data | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Total seats | Pre-election | Post-election | Net change | |||||||||||||||
| Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | |||||||||
| New Jersey | 120 | 77 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 50 | 0 | 0 | -7 | +7 | 0 | |||||||
| Virginia[3] | 100 | 55 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 0 | -7 | +7 | 0 | |||||||
| Change in state Senate partisan composition, 2021 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | Net[2] | ||||
| Democratic | 25 | 24 | -1 | |||
| Republican | 15 | 16 | +1 | |||
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 25 | 15 | - | |||
| State-specific data | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Total seats | Pre-election | Post-election | Net change | |||||||||||||||
| Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | |||||||||
| New Jersey | 40 | 25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 16 | 0 | 0 | -1 | +1 | 0 | |||||||
| Change in state House partisan composition, 2020 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | Net[2] | ||||
| Democratic | 107 | 94 | -13 | |||
| Republican | 73 | 86 | +13 | |||
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 180 | 180 | - | |||
| State-specific data | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Total seats | Pre-election | Post-election | Net change | |||||||||||||||
| Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | Vac. | Dem. | Rep. | Oth. | |||||||||
| New Jersey | 80 | 52 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 34 | 0 | 0 | -6 | +6 | 0 | |||||||
| Virginia | 100 | 55 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 52 | 0 | 0 | -7 | +7 | 0 | |||||||
Seats that changed party control
Each state legislative district that changed partisan control in regularly scheduled elections in November 2021 is listed below. Multi-member districts in which multiple seats changed hands are listed once for each seat. The 16 flipped seats include:
- Democrat to Republican: 15
- Republican to Democrat: 1
Visit this page to see analysis of the seats that flipped party control in 2021.
Election analysis
Hundreds of elections took place in 2021 across the United States, including primary and general elections at the state and local levels and special elections at the federal, state, and local levels. You will find Ballotpedia's research and curation on 2021 elections in the United States below.
- Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection report
- Incumbent win rates by state
- Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
- Third-party candidates who won more than the margin of victory
- Number of state legislators by party
- Partisan balance of governors
- Results of elected officials seeking other offices
- State government trifectas
- State government triplexes
- State legislative races decided by fewer than 100 votes
- State legislative seats that changed party control
- State legislative veto-proof majorities
- Partisan balance of mayors of the 100 largest cities by population
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2021
- Partisan composition of state legislatures
- Ballotpedia Email Updates
- Contact us
Footnotes
- ↑ Net change figures were calculated by assembling total partisan data for all seats in any chamber that held regularly-scheduled elections in 2021. This includes seats in such chambers that were not up for regularly-scheduled elections so long as other seats in the given chamber were holding regularly-scheduled elections. Pre-election figures were then compared to post-election figures to determine the net change.
Due to the presence of pre-election vacant seats, net changes do not reflect a one-to-one representation of partisan shifts. For example, if a candidate won a pre-election vacant seat, that contributes to the candidate's party's overall gain, but does not equal another party's loss, inversely. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Due to the uncalled races, the before, after, and net numbers in the first table will not add up exactly. The net change in seats is calculated here, while the differences between before and after may not equal net because of the outstanding races.
- ↑ The Virginia State Senate did not hold regularly-scheduled elections in 2021. Only partisan information from the state's House elections is shown here.
