State legislative elections, 2019

From Ballotpedia
Revision as of 20:19, 23 August 2019 by Mandy Gillip (contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
2019 State
Legislative Elections
2020 »
« 2018
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
2019 elections
Louisiana • Mississippi • New Jersey • Virginia
2019 special elections
2019 Elections
Choose a chamber below:


Seven of the country's 99 state legislative chambers held regular elections in 2019. These seven chambers represented 538 of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats (7.3%). This page contains information about regularly scheduled state legislative elections; click here to read about state legislative special elections in 2019.

As of May 2019, Republicans held six of the seven chambers and 292 of the 538 seats (54.3%). Democrats held one chamber and 240 seats (44.6%).[1] Overall, Republicans controlled 61 of 99 legislative chambers (61.6%) and 3,863 of 7,383 state legislative seats (52.3%). Democrats controlled 37 chambers (37.4%) and 3,467 seats (47.0%).[2]

Click on the links below to navigate to election pages for each chamber.

General elections in Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia took place on November 5, 2019. General elections in Louisiana took place on November 16, 2019. Louisiana and Mississippi held gubernatorial elections in 2019 as well.

A Ballotpedia analysis of trifecta vulnerability in 2019 found the following:

  • Louisiana (Divided government) had a slight chance of becoming a Republican trifecta and a low chance of becoming a Democratic trifecta.
  • Mississippi (Republican trifecta) was a moderately vulnerable Republican trifecta.
  • New Jersey (Democratic trifecta) was a non-vulnerable Democratic trifecta.
  • Virginia (Divided government) had a moderate chance of becoming a Democratic trifecta and a moderate chance of remaining under divided government.

Read the analysis here.

Keep reading to learn more about:

Elections by state

Elections are being held for seven legislative chambers in the following four states:

State legislative special elections were also held in 2019. Click here to read more.

Elections summary

State legislative chambers up in 2019
Chambers Seats up Partisan control Term length Term limits?
Louisiana Senate All 39 Republican Party 19-7 4 years Yes (3 terms)
Louisiana House All 105 Republican Party 63-24 4 years Yes (3 terms)
Mississippi Senate All 52 Republican Party 20-13 4 years No
Mississippi House All 122 Republican Party 41-22 4 years No
New Jersey General Assembly All 80 Democratic Party 57-23 2 years No
Virginia Senate All 40 Republican Party 7-10 4 years No
Virginia House All 100 Republican Party 36-63 2 years No

Louisiana

Louisiana's state legislators serve four-year terms that begin at noon on the second Monday in January after their election. Both chambers have term limits which prevent a state legislator from serving for more than three terms, or twelve years, in a particular chamber.

The Louisiana State Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives last held elections in 2015.

  • Candidate filing deadline: August 8, 2019
  • Jungle primary election: October 12, 2019
  • General election:[3] November 16, 2019

State Senate

See also: Louisiana State Senate elections, 2019

Louisiana State Senate Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Louisiana State Senate
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic10
Republican28
Other0
Vacancies1
Total39

State House

See also: Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2019

Louisiana House of Representatives Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Louisiana House of Representatives
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic29
Republican70
Other0
Vacancies6
Total105

Mississippi

Mississippi's state legislators serve four-year terms that begin on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January after their election.

The Mississippi State Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives last held elections in 2015.

  • Candidate filing deadline: March 1, 2019
  • Primary election: August 6, 2019
  • Primary runoff election: August 27, 2019
  • General election: November 5, 2019

State Senate

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2019

Mississippi State Senate Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Mississippi State Senate
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic18
Republican34
Other0
Vacancies0
Total52

State House

See also: Mississippi House of Representatives elections, 2019

Mississippi House of Representatives Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Mississippi House of Representatives
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic42
Republican78
Other2
Vacancies0
Total122

New Jersey

New Jersey's state representatives are elected to a two-year term that begins at noon of the second Tuesday in January.

The New Jersey General Assembly last held elections in 2017. The New Jersey State Senate did not hold elections in 2019. Senators began four-year terms after being elected in 2017.

  • Candidate filing deadline: April 1, 2019
  • Primary election: June 4, 2019
  • General election: November 5, 2019

State House

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2019

New Jersey General Assembly Current Party Control

Partisan composition, New Jersey General Assembly
as of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic57
Republican23
Other0
Vacancies0
Total80

Virginia

Virginia's state senators are elected to a four-year term that begins on the second Wednesday in January after the election. The Virginia State Senate last held elections in 2015.

Virginia's state representatives are elected to a two-year term that begins on the second Wednesday in January after the election. The Virginia House of Delegates last held elections in 2017.

  • Candidate filing deadline: March 28, 2019
  • Primary election: June 11, 2019
  • General election: November 5, 2019

State Senate

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2019

Virginia State Senate Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Virginia State Senate
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic20
Republican19
Other0
Vacancies1
Total40

State House

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2019

Virginia House of Delegates Current Party Control

Partisan composition, Virginia House of Delegates
As of February 2026
PartyMembers
Democratic63
Republican36
Other0
Vacancies1
Total100

Battleground chambers

See also: Battlegrounds

Ballotpedia tracked two state legislative battleground chambers in 2019—the Virginia State Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates.

Heading into the election, Republicans held a two-seat majority in each chamber. The Virginia State Senate has had a 2-seat or smaller majority (including several years as a tied chamber) since 2007. In the Virginia House of Delegates, Democrats picked up 15 seats in 2017, and only a Republican win in a tiebreaker of random chance in District 94 kept Republicans from losing control of the chamber.

Battlegrounds were chambers that we anticipated would be, overall, more competitive than other chambers and have the potential to see significant shifts in party control in the 2019 general elections.

Criteria for identification as a battleground chamber included the majority party's share of seats, the number of competitive races, and more. Read the complete list of criteria here.

The columns in the chart below list the following information:

  • Seats up in 2019: This was the number of seats in the chamber that were up for election in 2019.
  • Margin: This was the difference in seats between the majority and minority parties.
  • Majority share of seats: This was the percentage of the chamber's total seats controlled by the majority party.
  • Last time party control changed?: This was the election where the party in power before the 2019 elections took control of the chamber.
2019 battleground chambers
Chamber Seats up in 2019 Margin Majority share of seats Last time party control changed? Did it flip?
Virginia State Senate All 40 R+2 53 percent 2015 TBD
Virginia House of Delegates All 100 R+2 51 percent 2000 TBD

Competitiveness

Races with one major party candidate

See also: State legislative elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2019

Races without Democratic candidates

Races without Republican candidates

Odd-year elections since 2009

Four states hold state legislative elections in odd-numbered years: Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia. In the last 10 years, there have been between two and eight state legislative chambers up in an election cycle. Only two chambers--the New Jersey General Assembly and the Virginia House of Delegates--hold regular elections every two years. The other six chambers hold elections every two to four years, depending on when the last round of redistricting took place.

The chart below details the results of state legislative elections from 2009 to 2017. During that period, two chambers flipped party control--both in 2011.[12] Partisan changes ranged from a Republican gain of 27 seats in 2011 to a Democratic gain of 18 seats in 2017.

Odd-year elections since 2009
Year Chambers up Flipped chambers Seats up Total Democratic seats pre-election Total Democratic seat change Total Republican seats pre-election Total Republican seat change
2017 3[13] None 220 110 +18 110 -18
2015 7[14] None 538 230 0 302 +4
2013 3[15] None 220 104 +1 113 -2
2011 8[16] 2[12] 578 287 -24 285 +27
2009 2[17] None 178 92 -6 86 +6

Historical competitiveness data

In 2010, Ballotpedia began using official candidate lists from each state to examine the competitiveness of every state legislative race in the country. Three factors are used in the analysis: the number of incumbents who do not seek re-election, the number of races that feature only one major party candidate, and the number of incumbents who draw primary challengers.

The following table details the data collected from regularly scheduled state legislative elections between 2010 and 2018. It features the total number of seats up for election, open seats, races that included only one major party candidate, and incumbents who faced primary challengers. The table is organized by even-year elections and odd-year elections because years that have the same number of seats up for elections are similar in terms of their competitiveness.

Competitiveness in state legislative elections (2010-2018)
Year Total seats Open seats No major party
challengers 		Primaries featuring
incumbents
Odd-year elections
2017 220 20 (9.1%) 42 (19.1%) 32 (16.0%)
2015 538 75 (13.9%) 330 (61.3%) 101 (21.8%)
2013 220 15 (6.8%) 58 (26.4%) 25 (12.2%)
2011 578 105 (18.2%) 246 (42.6%) 95 (20.1%)
Even-year elections
2018 6,073 1,181 (19.5%) 2,017 (33.2%) 1,064 (21.8%)
2016 5,923 1,040 (17.6%) 2,477 (41.8%) 1,005 (20.6%)
2014 6,057 1,030 (17.0%) 2,606 (43.0%) 1,009 (20.1%)
2012 6,015 1,227 (20.4%) 2,409 (40.0%) 1,175 (24.5%)
2010 6,125 1,140 (18.6%) 2,000 (32.7%) 1,133 (22.7%)

State legislative special elections

See also: State legislative special elections, 2019

In 2019, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 47 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 21 due to a retirement
  • 6 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 2 due to an election being rerun

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2019. The number on the left reflects how many vacant seats were originally held by each party, while the number on the right shows how many vacant seats each party won in the special elections. In elections between 2011 and 2018, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country. Between 2017 and 2018, Democrats had a net gain of 19 seats.

Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2019)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 39 36
     Republican Party 38 40
     Independent 0 1
Total 77 77

Flipped seats

In 2019, eight seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from R to I


What was at stake

Partisan balance

Heading into the 2019 elections, Republicans held a majority of state legislative chambers. Sixty-eight chambers were under GOP control, while Democrats held majorities in 31 chambers.[18]

The following table details partisan balance in all 99 chambers.

Partisan Control of All 99 State Legislatures
Pre-election Post-election
Legislative Chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Split control Democratic Party Republican Party Split control
State senates 18 32 0 19 31 0
State houses 19 29 1 20 28 1
Total: 37 61 1 39 59 1

The following table details partisan balance of all 7,383 state legislative seats.

Partisan Balance of All 7,383 State Legislative Seats
Pre-election Post-election
Legislative Chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Other[19] Democratic Party Republican Party Other[19]
State senates 879 1,081 12 878 1,081 13
State houses 2,583 2,770 58 2,579 2,775 57
Total: 3,462 3,851 70 3,457 3,856 70

State government trifectas

See also: Gubernatorial and legislative party control of state government

Gubernatorial elections in Louisiana and Mississippi had the opportunity of being competitive races, leaving the possibility of a new trifecta in both states. Heading into the 2019 state legislative elections, Mississippi was a Republican trifecta, New Jersey was a Democratic trifecta, and Louisiana and Virginia were both under divided government.

A trifecta is when one political party holds these three positions in a state's government:

The concept of the trifecta is important in state lawmaking because in many states, the governor, senate majority leader, and house majority leader play decisive roles in the legislative process.

Heading into the 2019 elections, 36 states were controlled by a trifecta. States with a trifecta included:

  • Democratic Party 14 Democratic trifectas
  • Republican Party 22 Republican trifectas

Impact of term limits

See also: Louisiana State Senate elections, 2019 and Louisiana House of Representatives, 2019

In 2019, 47 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. Louisiana was the only state holding elections for a term-limited legislature in 2019.

Of the 15 state legislatures with term limits, Louisiana is the only state where term limits were imposed by the state’s lawmakers, rather than through the ballot initiative process. Under Louisiana’s term limits, state lawmakers can serve no more than three four-year terms. The state’s term limits law was enacted in 1995. The first year that term limits impacted the ability of incumbents to run for office was in 2007.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2019 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

2019 term-limited incumbents
Party # of termed senators # of termed representatives Total
Democratic 4 13 17
Republican 12 17 29
Independent 0 1 1
Total 16 31 47

Political context

The 2019 elections occurred in the aftermath of significant Democratic gains in the 2018 elections and 2017 elections. Democrats flipped 349 legislative seats and picked up six legislative chambers, reversing some of the Republican gains made from 2010 to 2016.

Changes in chamber partisan control, 2010 to 2018

See also: Partisan composition of state legislatures

Prior to the 2010 elections, Democrats controlled 60 of the country's 99 state legislative chambers, Republicans controlled 37, and two chambers were not controlled by either party. In the six years that followed, Republicans made significant gains and took control of many of the chambers that were previously held by Democrats. After the 2016 elections, Democrats controlled 31 chambers and Republicans controlled 68.

In the 2017 and 2018 elections, Democrats increased their number of state legislative chambers to 37, and Republicans saw their number of chambers fall to 61. Control of one chamber, the Alaska House of Representatives, was split between the parties.

From 2010 to 2018, there were 61 instances where a state legislative chamber changed partisan control. Of these 61 changes, 40 involved a chamber changing from Democratic to Republican control and 17 involved a chamber changing from Republican to Democratic control. The other four involved chambers that were split between the two parties (Oregon House in 2010 and 2012; Montana House in 2010; Alaska House in 2018).

Most of the changes came during major elections but some also came through special elections (Louisiana House in 2010; Washington Senate in 2017) and party switching (Louisiana House in 2010; Mississippi Senate in 2011). In some cases, the party that gained control did not have a numerical majority but instead controlled the chamber through a bipartisan coalition (i.e., Alaska House in 2016). This table does not account for changes in party control or ties in a chamber that lasted for less than one year and were not the result of a regularly scheduled election. An example of this is the brief period of Democratic control in the Virginia State Senate in 2014.[20]

From 2010 to 2018, 39 chambers switched control: 24 switched control once, 11 switched control twice, one switched control three times, and three switched control four times.

For this chart, a red box indicates that the chamber flipped from Democratic to Republican control, and a blue box indicates that the chamber flipped from Republican to Democratic control.[21]

Chamber changes in partisan control: 2010-2018
Party changes in 2010 Party changes in 2011 Party changes in 2012 Party changes in 2014 Party changes in 2016 Party changes in 2017 Party changes in 2018
Alabama Senate Louisiana Senate[22][23] Alaska Senate Colorado Senate Alaska House Washington Senate Alaska House[24]
Alabama House Mississippi Senate[25][26] Arkansas Senate Maine Senate Iowa Senate Colorado Senate
Colorado House Mississippi House Arkansas House Minnesota House Kentucky House Maine Senate
Indiana House Virginia Senate[27] Colorado House Nevada Senate Minnesota Senate Minnesota House
Iowa House Maine Senate Nevada House Nevada Senate New Hampshire House
Louisiana House[28][29] Maine House New Hampshire House Nevada House New Hampshire Senate
Maine Senate Minnesota Senate New Mexico House New Mexico House New York Senate
Maine House Minnesota House West Virginia Senate
Michigan House New Hampshire House West Virginia House
Minnesota Senate Oregon House[30]
Minnesota House Washington Senate
Montana House[31]
New Hampshire Senate
New Hampshire House
New York Senate
North Carolina Senate
North Carolina House
Ohio House
Oregon House[32]
Pennsylvania House
Wisconsin Senate
Wisconsin House
Total changes: 22 Total changes: 4 Total changes: 11 Total changes: 9 Total changes: 7 Total changes: 1 Total changes: 7

The chart below shows how many chambers each party controlled after the November elections in a given year.

Partisan control of state legislative chambers: 2010-2018
Election Democratic chambers Republican chambers Other
Before 2010 60 37 2
2010 38 59 2
2011 35 60 4
2012 41 56 2
2013 41 56 2
2014 30 68 1
2015 30 68 1
2016 31 68 0
2017 32 67 0
2018 37 61 1

State legislatures and presidents

First midterms

Heading into the 2019 election, the Republican Party was coming off a substantial loss of seats during a major election for the first time in more than a decade. Republicans across the country collectively lost 349 seats during the 2018 state legislative elections and 2017 state legislative elections, marking the third time during the last four presidencies that the party of the sitting president--Donald Trump (R) in this case--lost seats during that president's first midterm election. Democrats lost 702 seats during Barack Obama's (D) first midterm and 488 seats during Bill Clinton's (D) first midterm. Only George W. Bush (R) saw a net gain of seats during his first midterm with Republicans winning 110 seats.




Two-term presidents

It is normal for a party to lose ground in state legislatures when their party controls the presidency for two terms. Between the time of Franklin Roosevelt (D) and George W. Bush (R), the political party of the president lost, on average, 450 state legislative seats while holding the White House. The losses that the Democratic Party sustained under Barack Obama (D), however, were exceptional, rivaled only by the terms of Richard Nixon (R) and Dwight Eisenhower (R), when Republicans lost 800 and 843 seats, respectively.

Trifectas from 2010 to 2018

See also: State government trifectas

A state government trifecta occurs when one political party controls the primary levers of power in a state: the governor's office, the state Senate, and the state House. From 2010 to 2018, the Republican Party increased its number of trifectas and the Democratic Party saw a decline in its trifectas. However, Democrats picked up six trifectas in the 2018 elections, and Republicans lost four trifectas.

This chart shows the number of trifectas each party held heading into elections from 2010 to 2018, and the number of trifectas following the 2018 elections.

Trifectas by year: 2010-2018
Election Democratic trifectas Republican trifectas States under divided government
Pre-2010 elections 17 10 23
Pre-2012 elections 11 22 17
Pre-2014 elections 12 24 14
Pre-2016 elections 7 23 20
Pre-2018 elections 8 26 16
Post-2018 elections 14 22 14


Footnotes

  1. ↑ The remaining six seats were either vacant or held by independent legislators.
  2. ↑ The 99th chamber was controlled by Democrats and Republicans through a power-sharing agreement. The remaining were either vacant or held by independent legislators.
  3. ↑ Held if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary.
  4. ↑ Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation, "Republican Delegation Welcomes Senator Norby Chabert to the Republican Party," accessed October 5, 2017
  5. ↑ Four state senators switched their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and Republicans flipped two seats in special elections.
  6. ↑ Nola, "Senate election completes Republican takeover of Louisiana government," February 21, 2011
  7. ↑ NOLA, "Louisiana Republicans take first House majority since Reconstruction with latest party switch," December 17, 2010
  8. ↑ Google Books, "Crossing the Aisle: Party Switching by U.S. Legislators in the Postwar Era," accessed August 31, 2017
  9. ↑ Jackson Free Press, "Dems Bolster Power in Legislature," November 14, 2007
  10. ↑ Natchez Democrat, "State Sen. Mettetal joins Republican Party," January 30, 2008
  11. ↑ The Dispatch, "Brown chosen as No. 2 in Senate," January 3, 2012
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Mississippi House flipped from Democratic to Republican control, and the Virginia Senate flipped from Democratic control to split control.
  13. ↑ NJ Senate and House; VA House
  14. ↑ LA Senate and House; MS Senate and House; NJ House; VA Senate and House
  15. ↑ NJ Senate and House; VA House
  16. ↑ LA Senate and House; MS Senate and House; NJ Senate and House; VA Senate and House
  17. ↑ NJ House and VA House
  18. ↑ Although the Nebraska State Senate elects its members in nonpartisan elections, members of the chamber generally function along party lines when it comes to voting and caucusing. Please see Nebraska State Senate partisan affiliation for more information.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Third party incumbents and vacancies.
  20. ↑ The Washington Post, "Virginia Republicans snatched control of the state Senate, ended budget-Medicaid impasse," June 9, 2014
  21. ↑ 2015 and 2013 are not included because no chambers flipped those years.
  22. ↑ The chamber first changed from Democratic to Republican control in a February 2011 special election. Republicans increased their majority to 24-15 in the 2011 elections.
  23. ↑ Fox News, "GOP Candidate Wins Lousiana [sic] Senate Special Election, Shifting Majority," February 20, 2011
  24. ↑ Chamber went from being controlled by a Democratic-led bipartisan coalition to being led by a coalition with power split between the parties.
  25. ↑ The chamber changed partisan control prior to the 2011 elections due to Democrats switching to the Republican Party and special election wins by Republicans. Republicans increased their majority in the 2011 elections to 31-21.
  26. ↑ The Washington Post, "Southern Democrats in dire straits; 2011 looms large," January 11, 2011
  27. ↑ In the 2011 elections, the chamber changed from a 22-18 Democratic advantage to a 20-20 tie. Republicans effectively controlled the chamber because Lieutenant Gov. Bill Bolling (R) could cast tie-breaking votes.
  28. ↑ This chamber did not hold elections in 2010. It switched partisan control in December 2010 when Democrat Noble Ellington changed his party affiliation to Republican. In the regularly-scheduled 2011 elections, Republicans increased their majority to 58-45.
  29. ↑ Nola.com, "Louisiana Republicans take first House majority since Reconstruction with latest party switch," December 17, 2010
  30. ↑ In this election, the Oregon House changed from a 30-30 tie to a 34-26 Democratic advantage.
  31. ↑ This chamber went from a 50-50 tie to a 68-32 Republican advantage in the 2010 elections.
  32. ↑ This chamber went from a 36-24 Democratic advantage to a 30-30 tie in the 2010 elections.
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=State_legislative_elections,_2019&oldid=7828265"