State Legislative Tracker: Reviewing the 2012 elections

November 12, 2012

Edited by Greg Janetka
This week's tracker features a review of last week's elections.

Weekly highlight

See also: Ballotpedia's update on 2012 state legislative elections and State legislative elections results, 2012

A total of 86 of the 99 chambers held state legislative elections on November 6, 2012.

1,301 (65.97%) of the country's 1,972 state senate seats were up for election and 4,714 (87.12%) of the country's 5,411 state house seats were up for election. Altogether, 6,015 (81.47%) of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats were for election this year.

• 43 of the 50 state senates held elections.
• 43 of the 49 state houses held elections.

The 6,015 seats up for election was 110 fewer than the 6,125 that were contested in 2010.

Prior to November, a total of 198 state legislative incumbents were defeated in a primary - 124 Republicans and 74 Democrats. Unofficial results show at least 274 incumbents were defeated in the general election - 209 Republicans and 65 Democrats.

Partisan balance

Heading into the election, Republicans held a commanding advantage in total number of state legislative chambers in which it was the majority party. Republicans controlled 51 chambers with 2012 elections while Democrats controlled 32. Democrats ended up having a better night than Republicans, gaining a total of five chambers in 2012 -- four of which were previously under a Republican majority and the Oregon House, which was split heading into the election. On the flip side, Republicans lost four seats to Democrats but they did pick up the Alaska Senate, also split heading into the election.

Chamber flips

A total of 12 chambers changed partisan control in the 2012 state legislative elections. Eight of those chambers were flipped to Democratic control while four are now in a Republican majority. Those chambers are:

Alaska State Senate

Arkansas State Senate

Arkansas House of Representatives

Colorado House of Representatives

Maine State Senate

Maine House of Representatives

Minnesota State Senate

Minnesota House of Representatives

New Hampshire House of Representatives

New York State Senate

Oregon House of Representatives

Wisconsin State Senate

Political trifectas

A trifecta is when one political party holds the governorship and a majority in both chambers of the state legislatures. It's particularly important in the state lawmaking process because the Governor, Senate Majority Leader and House Majority Leader all play decisive roles in the legislative process. The nation appears to be shifting towards state politics being controlled by one party in any given state. Prior to the 2010 election there were 25 political trifectas. That figure rose after the 2010 elections and even further in this year's elections. There are now a total of 37 trifectas throughout the country.

New trifectas

Alaska

Colorado

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

Wisconsin

Trifectas that were lost

Arkansas

Maine

Redistricting on the ballot

See also: Redistricting measures on the ballot

This year voters in three states went go to the polls to cast their vote on proposed changes to their state's redistricting process. Two measures passed, while one was defeated:

• California Proposition 40, State Senate Redistricting Plan Referendum (2012) a
• Maryland Redistricting Referendum, Question 5 (2012) a
• Ohio Redistricting Amendment, Issue 2 (2012) d

Sessions

This week 4 out of 50 state legislatures - Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania - are meeting in regular session, while Massachusetts is meeting in informal session, which it will continue to do throughout the rest of the year. As of May 16, all states had convened their 2012 sessions.

Forty states have adjourned for the year, while four states - Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas - were not scheduled to hold regular sessions in 2012. The first 2013 session is scheduled to begin on December 3 in California.

Regular sessions

See also: Dates of 2012 state legislative sessions and Dates of 2013 state legislative sessions

Click here to see a chart of each state's 2012 session information.

Although most states have concluded 2012 business, some states have already begun 2013 action. Drafting for 2013 has begun in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming, while prefiling of legislation is going on in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Virginia and Tennessee.

Special sessions

Snapshot of State Legislatures: Monday, November 12, 2012
There are 7,383 Total State Legislators
Total Democratic state legislators	3,301 (44.7%)
Total Republican state legislators	3,947 (53.5%)
There are 99 Total State Legislative Chambers
Total Democratic Party-controlled chambers	37
Total Republican Party-controlled chambers	58
Total tied or nonpartisan chambers	4
2012 Session Information
Total Special Elections	39
Total Special Sessions	20

In 2011, special sessions were a widespread occurrence in state legislatures. This was largely due to states' having to complete the redistricting process for legislative and congressional districts. Overall in 2011, there were 45 special sessions in 28 states.

During 2012, there have been 20 special sessions in 16 states. There are no special sessions currently scheduled.

Nevada

On November 6, voters approved Nevada’s Question 1. Question 1 addressed special legislative sessions, and specifically would outline that the Nevada Legislature may convene a special legislative session upon a petition signed by two-thirds of the Legislators of each chamber, on "extraordinary occasions."

Under the approval of Question 1, special sessions would be limited to 20 calendar days except in the event that a special session is called to expel a legislator or impeach or remove the Nevada Governor. Other constitutional officers and judicial officers would be included in this impeachment provision. An extension of the sessions would also occur if a supermajority of 66% of members in both chambers approve of doing so.

According to reports the measure was successful approximately 53% of voters casting "yes" votes. Election results are not yet official, as a canvassing of the results will not be done until later this month.

In recess

As of today, November 12, 4 state's sessions are currently in recess:

• California - In recess from September 1, 2012 to November 29, 2012.
• Illinois - In recess from August 17, 2012 to November 27, 2012.
• New York - In recess from June 22, 2012 to January 8, 2013.
• Wisconsin - In recess from March 17 to December 31, 2012.

Special Elections

See also: State legislative special elections, 2012

So far in 2012 there have been 39 special elections in 16 states.

There are no special elections scheduled to take place this week.

Recent election results

☐ On November 6, Mississippi's two special elections took place and will proceed to runoffs on November 27:

• Mississippi Senate District 19: Merle Flowers (R) resigned on May 24, 2012 in order to spend more time with his family. In a four-way race, David Parker and Pat Nelson advanced to the runoff election. While special elections in Mississippi are nonpartisan, both candidates say they are Republican.

• Mississippi House of Representatives District 52: Tommy L. Woods (R) resigned his seat in the House on July 30, 2012. In a three-way race, Jeremy Bryan and Bill Kinkade advanced to the runoff election. While special elections in Mississippi are nonpartisan, both candidates say they are Republican.

☑ On November 6, two New Jersey special elections were decided:

• New Jersey Assembly District 4: Gabriela Mosquera's (D) 2010 election was ruled invalid by the New Jersey Supreme Court on the grounds that she had not resided long enough in the 4th District. However, by the time this ruling came, Mosquera was eligible for the seat. As such, local Democrats appointed her as interim representative to serve until facing a special election on November 6, 2012. Mosquera defeated Shelley Lovett (R) to retain the seat.

• New Jersey Assembly District 26: Alex DeCroce (R) passed away on January 9, 2012 from a heart attack. Local party officials selected his wife BettyLou DeCroce (R) to serve in the interim. DeCroce defeated Joseph Raich (D) to retain the seat.

On November 6, one New Jersey special elections remains too close to call:

• New Jersey Assembly District 16: Peter Biondi (R) passed away on November 10, 2011 after a battle with cancer. Local party officials selected Donna Simon (R) to serve in the interim. While Simon initially declared victory on November 6, Corfield refused to concede as many ballots remained outstanding and unofficial results showed Simon leading Corfield by about 1,700 votes.

Looking ahead

Upcoming special elections include:

• November 27: Mississippi State Senate District 19 and House District 52 (Runoffs)
• December 4: Wisconsin State Senate District 33
• December 11: Alabama House of Representatives Districts 30, 34
• December 11: Iowa State Senate District 22
• December 18: Kentucky State Senate District 16
• December 18: Virginia House of Delegates District 89
• January 8, 2013: California State Senate District 4
• January 8, 2013: Georgia State Senate District 30

See also

• State legislative elections, 2012
• State legislative election results, 2012
• 2012 state legislative calendar
• Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 state government elections
• State legislative special elections, 2012
• State legislative recalls