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2024 United States state legislative elections

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2024 United States state legislative elections
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The 2024 United States state legislative elections were held on November 5, 2024, for 85 state legislative chambers in 44 states. Across the fifty states, approximately 65 percent of all upper house seats and 85 percent of all lower house seats were up for election. Nine legislative chambers in the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories and the federal district of Washington, D.C., also held elections. The elections take place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, including the presidential election, U.S. Senate elections, U.S. House elections, and gubernatorial elections.

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Prior to the election, Republicans controlled 56 legislative chambers, while Democrats controlled 41. Both chambers of the Alaska Legislature were controlled by bipartisan coalitions. The states of Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania were expected to hold the most competitive elections for legislative control.[2] Additionally, court-ordered redistricting in Wisconsin was expected to lead to Democratic gains in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature.[3] Favorable redistricting from Montana's independent redistricting commission was also expected to lead to Democratic gains in that state.[4]

Despite Republican nominee Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, Republicans made very modest gains in state legislative chambers across the country, flipping one chamber and forcing a tie in another.

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Summary table

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Regularly scheduled elections were held in 85 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 5,809 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Many legislative chambers held elections for all seats, but some legislative chambers that use staggered elections held elections for only a portion of the total seats in the chamber. The chambers not up for election either hold regularly scheduled elections in odd-numbered years or have four-year terms and hold all regularly scheduled elections in presidential midterm election years.[5]

Note that this table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.

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Redistricting

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States which underwent mid-decade redistricting prior to the 2024 elections. Stripes indicate only a small number of districts were changed.
  Regularly-scheduled redistricting
  Voluntary redistricting
  Court-ordered redistricting

A number of states underwent mid-decade redistricting prior to the 2024 elections. Some states only changed a few districts, while others implemented entirely new maps. In Georgia, Michigan and North Dakota, and Washington, judges ruled that certain districts violated the Voting Rights Act. Georgia[6] and Michigan[7] failed to protect African American communities of interest while North Dakota[8] and Washington[9] failed to protect Native American and Hispanic communities of interest respectively.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped from a conservative to a liberal majority in 2023, directly leading to the overturning of the state's legislative districts in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.[10] The legislature then passed new maps drawn by Democratic governor Tony Evers to avoid the possibility of the courts imposing their own maps.[11] In Ohio, the state had to draw new legislative maps due to the Ohio Supreme Court repeatedly striking down maps prior to the 2022 elections. The state's seven-member politician commission unanimously passed new maps despite the commission's two Democratic members considering the maps to still be unfair.[12]

Montana held its elections under new lines drawn by the state's independent redistricting commission. Unlike every other state, Montana does not implement new legislative districts until the fourth year following the census.[13] The North Carolina Supreme Court, which flipped to Republican control in 2022, overturned its previous ruling prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, enabling the Republican-controlled legislature to pass new maps seen as highly favorable to them.[14] As part of the litigation in a racial gerrymandering case in South Carolina, which primarily concerned the state's first congressional district, the plaintiffs in the case agreed to drop their challenge to the state House's map in exchange for the legislature passing changes to a small set of districts. Though this occurred in 2022, the new maps did not take effect until 2024.[15]

New legislative maps in Montana and Wisconsin were expected to lead to large Democratic gains in both houses of each state's legislature.[3][4]

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Election predictions

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Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive chambers. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the party, the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each chambers, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that election.

Analysts' predictions for competitive state legislative chambers largely mirrored the states they considered competitive in the presidential election, with some exceptions. Presidential battlegrounds Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina were not considered competitive due to heavy gerrymandering in each state,[16][17] while both legislative chambers in Alaska, Minnesota,[h] and New Hampshire were considered competitive despite not being characterized as presidential battlegrounds.[18] In line with national predictions of an unpredictable and competitive presidential election, many analysts, including Louis Jacobson of Sabato's Crystal Ball saw neither party as having a distinct advantage towards making gains at the state legislative level, although others, including CNalysis, gave Democrats a slight edge in both net seat gain and net chamber gain, owed in part to favorable redistricting.[18][19]

Most election predictors use:

  • "Tossup": No advantage
  • "Tilt": Advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
  • "Lean": Slight advantage
  • "Likely": Significant, but surmountable, advantage[i]
  • "Safe" or "Solid": Near-certain chance of victory
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National results

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Despite Republican nominee Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, Republicans made very modest gains in state legislative chambers across the country, a net gain of just over 50 seats. These gains were hampered by Democratic redistricting-based gains Montana and Wisconsin.[23] Republicans only flipped the Michigan House of Representatives from Democrats, while the Minnesota House of Representatives went from Democratic-controlled to tied. The net changes in both chamber control and overall seat control were well below average for state legislative elections during the 21st century.[24] Twenty eight state legislative chambers which held elections saw no change in partisan composition, and only seven states saw a net shift of over five legislative seats towards one party, a drop of nearly 50% in both metrics from the 2022 elections.[23]

A number of statehouses saw dramatic shifts through primary elections in addition to the general election. In the Texas House of Representatives, conservative Republicans ousted over a dozen opponents of school voucher legislation and targeted those who voted in favor of the impeachment of attorney general Ken Paxton. These primaries, bolstered by Republican gains in the general election, gave the pro-voucher coalition a majority in the chamber for the first time.[25][26] In the Wyoming House of Representatives, the far-right Freedom Caucus gained a majority in the chamber through the Republican primary election.[27] Progressive Democrats gained ground in Delaware and New Mexico, but they lost ground in Colorado as a result of Democratic primary elections. These shifts were considered much more minor than the shifts seen in Republican-controlled chambers.[23]

Despite this, supermajorities were broken in several chambers: Republicans broke the Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the Vermont General Assembly, the Nevada Assembly, and the New York State Senate; while Democrats broke Republican supermajorities in the North Carolina House of Representatives, both chambers of the Montana Legislature, and the Wisconsin Senate. Additionally, supermajorities were obtained in other chambers: Democrats obtained supermajorities in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly; while Republicans did so in the Iowa House of Representatives, the South Carolina Senate, and the New Hampshire Senate.[28]

Post-election party switching

Following the election, two Democratic members of the Florida House of Representatives announced that they would be switching parties and joining the Republicans. Representative Susan Valdes cited a desire to work with as a part of the majority for her switch, while Hillary Cassel cited her unequivocal support for the state of Israel. The state had grown increasingly Republican in the prior years, culminating in Donald Trump's landslide victory in the state in the concurrent presidential election, including in Valdes’ district.[29][30]

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Maps

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State summaries

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Alaska

Half of the seats of the Alaska Senate and all of the seats of the Alaska House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. The Alaska Senate and the Alaska House of Representatives are controlled by coalitions of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. The Democratic-led coalition in the Senate maintained control, but it lost seats to the conservative Republican minority. A Democratic-led coalition won control of the House of Representatives over the previous Republican-led coalition.[31]

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Arizona

All of the seats of the Arizona Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Arkansas

Half of the seats of the Arkansas Senate and all of the seats of the Arkansas House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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California

Half of the seats of the California State Senate and all of the seats of the California State Assembly were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Colorado

Half of the seats of the Colorado Senate and all of the seats of the Colorado House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Connecticut

All of the seats of the Connecticut State Senate and the Connecticut House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Delaware

Half of the seats of the Delaware State Senate and all of the Delaware House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.

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Florida

Half of the seats of the Florida Senate and all of the seats of the Florida House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Georgia

All of the seats of the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Hawaii

Half of the seats of the Hawaii Senate and all of the seats of the Hawaii House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Idaho

All of the seats of the Idaho Senate and the Idaho House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Conflict within the Idaho Republican Party's freedom caucus and more moderate wing led to a high number of primary challenges. These challenges resulted in modest gains for the freedom caucus, including the ouster of Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder.[32] In the general election, Republicans won a handful of seats from the Democrats, further expanding their supermajorities in both legislative chambers.[33]

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Illinois

One third of the seats of the Illinois Senate and all of the seats of the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Indiana

Half of the seats of the Indiana Senate and all of the seats of the Indiana House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Iowa

Half of the seats of the Iowa Senate and all of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans expanded their supermajority in the Senate and gained a supermajority in the House.

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Kansas

All of the seats of the Kansas Senate and the Kansas House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Kentucky

Half of the seats of the Kentucky Senate and all of the seats of the Kentucky House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans maintained supermajorities in both chambers with no net change in seat share in either.[34]

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Maine

All of the seats of the Maine Senate and the Maine House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Massachusetts

All of the seats of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Michigan

All of the seats of the Michigan House of Representatives were up for election in 2024; the Michigan Senate did not hold regularly scheduled elections. Republicans won control of the House from the Democrats, creating a divided government.[35]

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Minnesota

All of the seats of the Minnesota House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. The Minnesota Senate did not hold regularly scheduled elections in 2024. Prior to the election, Democrats controlled both chambers, but Republicans gained 3 seats in the state house, tying the chamber.

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Missouri

Half of the seats of the Missouri Senate and all of the seats of the Missouri House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Montana

Half of the seats of the Montana Senate and all of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. This was the first election under new legislative lines drawn by an independent, bipartisan commission as Montana does not adopt new legislative lines until 4 years after the census.[36] Aided by the new maps, Democrats broke the Republicans' legislative supermajority in both chambers, although Republicans still maintained control.[37]

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Nebraska

Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature; half of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature were up for election in 2024. Nebraska is also unique in that its legislature is officially non-partisan and holds non-partisan elections, although the Democratic and Republican parties each endorse legislative candidates.

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Nevada

Half of the seats of the Nevada Senate and all of the seats of the Nevada Assembly were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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New Hampshire

All of the seats of the New Hampshire Senate and the New Hampshire House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.

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New Mexico

All of the seats of the New Mexico Senate and the New Mexico House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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New York

All of the seats of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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North Carolina

All of the seats of the North Carolina Senate and the North Carolina House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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North Dakota

Half of the seats of the North Dakota Senate and the North Dakota House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Ohio

Half of the seats of the Ohio Senate and all of the seats of the Ohio House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans maintained control of both chambers, but Democrats made minor gains in each, reducing Republicans' supermajority in the House. Although Ohio Republican have enough seats to overturn a gubernatorial veto, they no longer hold the two-thirds majority needed in the House to unilaterally craft legislation.[38]

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Oklahoma

Half of the seats of the Oklahoma Senate and all of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Oregon

Half of the seats of the Oregon State Senate and all of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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Pennsylvania

Half of the seats of the Pennsylvania State Senate and all of the seats of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. There was no net change in seat composition in either chamber, leaving Republicans with control of the Senate and Democrats with control of the House.[40]

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Rhode Island

All of the seats of the Rhode Island Senate and the Rhode Island House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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South Carolina

All of the seats of the South Carolina Senate and the South Carolina House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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South Dakota

All of the seats of the South Dakota Senate and the South Dakota House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Tennessee

Half of the seats of the Tennessee Senate and all of the seats of the Tennessee House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.

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Texas

Half of the seats of the Texas Senate and all of the seats of the Texas House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers. Texas House Republicans have experienced considerable intraparty strife over issues such as school vouchers and the 2023 impeachment of Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general. Retirements and primary battles left over 30 seats open for the general election.[41][25] Republicans made minor gains in both legislative chambers, flipping two House seats and one Senate seat in the heavily Hispanic and historically-Democratic Rio Grande Valley.[26]

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Utah

Half of the seats of the Utah State Senate and all of the seats of the Utah House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans currently control both chambers.

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Vermont

All of the seats of the Vermont Senate and the Vermont House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Republicans made significant gains in both legislative chambers, breaking the Democratic supermajorities in each.[42] Democrats lost more legislative seats in Vermont than in any other state in the country despite Kamala Harris' landslide victory in the state in the concurrent presidential election. Republican governor Phil Scott, who also won re-election in a landslide, campaigned heavily for downballot Republicans, tapping into voter discontent with issues such as housing affordability, school funding, and rising taxes.[43]

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Washington

Half of the seats of the Washington State Senate and all of the seats of the Washington House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Democrats currently control both chambers.

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West Virginia

Half of the seats of the West Virginia Senate and all of the seats of the West Virginia House of Delegates were up for election in 2024. Republicans expanded their supermajorities in both legislative chambers, flipping three open Democratic-held seats in the general election.[44]

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Wisconsin

Half of the seats of the Wisconsin Senate and all of the seats of the Wisconsin State Assembly were up for election in 2024. Redistricting ordered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court completely reshuffled the state's legislative districts, leaving dozens of seats across both chambers with no incumbents. The new maps were considered more favorable to Democrats than the previous maps.[45] Aided by this favorable redistricting, Democrats made significant gains in both legislative chambers, breaking the supermajority in the Senate, though Republicans still maintained legislative control.[46]

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Wyoming

Half of the seats of the Wyoming Senate and all of the seats of the Wyoming House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. The far-right freedom caucus of the Wyoming Republican Party ousted several incumbents in the Republican primaries. In the general election, despite a Democratic gain in a majority-native district, the freedom caucus won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.[27] The Republican supermajority in the Senate remained unchanged.

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Territorial and federal district summaries

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American Samoa

All of the seats of the American Samoa Senate and the American Samoa House of Representatives were up for election in 2024. Members of the Senate serve four-year terms, while members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms. Gubernatorial and legislative elections are conducted on a nonpartisan basis in American Samoa.

Guam

All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of Guam were up for election in 2024. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term.

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Northern Mariana Islands

A portion of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, and all of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, were up for election in 2024. Members of the Senate serve either four-year terms, while members of the House serve two-year terms.

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Puerto Rico

All of the seats of the Senate of Puerto Rico and the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico were up for election in 2024. Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives both serve four-year terms.

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U.S. Virgin Islands

All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of the Virgin Islands were up for election in 2024. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term.

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Washington, D.C.

The Council of the District of Columbia serves as the legislative branch of the federal district of Washington, D.C. Half of the council seats were up for election in 2024. Council members serve four-year terms.

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Special elections

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There were fifty-four state legislative special elections scheduled for 2024.[47] Democrats gained a net of one seat in special elections prior to the November general election, picking up a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives and the Florida House of Representatives.[48][49] Republicans gained one seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives as well. Democrats gained a seat in the North Dakota House of Representatives and a seat in the North Dakota Senate in elections that were held concurrently with the general election.[50]

Additional special elections proved decisive in determining control of multiple legislative chambers. Special election victories enabled Democrats to retain control of the Michigan House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives multiple times throughout the year.[51][52][53] Republicans additionally maintained control of the New Hampshire House of Representatives through the numerous special elections held in the state. A competitive November special election in for the Minnesota Senate, which did not hold regularly scheduled elections in 2024, reaffirmed Democrats' control of that chamber through the 2026 election.[54]

Alabama

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Connecticut

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Florida

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Georgia

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Hawaii

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Illinois

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Kentucky

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Maine

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Massachusetts

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Michigan

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Minnesota

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New Hampshire

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New York

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North Dakota

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Ohio

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Oklahoma

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Pennsylvania

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South Carolina

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Texas

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Utah

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Virginia

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Wisconsin

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See also

Notes

  1. The Alaska House of Representatives prior to the 2024 elections is controlled by a coalition of 20 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 1 Independent.
  2. The Alaska Senate prior to the 2024 elections is controlled by a grand coalition of 9 Democrats and 8 Republicans.
  3. The Minnesota House of Representatives became tied after the election, so it is not counted towards either total.
  4. A coalition of 14 Democrats, 5 Independents, and 2 Republicans will control the Alaska House of Representatives.[1]
  5. A coalition of 9 Democrats and 5 Republicans will control the Alaska Senate.
  6. The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.
  7. These figures represent the seats of Nebraska's unicameral legislature.
  8. The Minnesota Senate did not hold regularly-scheduled elections in 2024; however, a special election held concurrently with the November general election was set to decide control in the narrowly-divided chamber.
  9. Sabato's Crystal Ball additionally uses the "Likely" characterization to indicate chambers where a shift in control is unlikely, but the minority party could make significant gains and/or break a legislative supermajority.
  10. CNalysis has two separate sets of predictions: Classic (Analyst ratings only), and Expanded (Classic alongside recent statewide election results). This table uses the Classic set.
  11. Counts seats that were vacant prior to the election towards the party that last held them
  12. Counts seats in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska legislature towards the party that endorsed each candidate
  13. Counts seats that were vacant prior to the election towards the party that last held them
  14. Consists of representative David Eastman, who is not a member of the Republican caucus.
  15. Per Oregon Ballot Measure 113, Boquist exceeded the ten allotted unexcused absences allowed before being barred from running for reelection.[39]
  16. Troy Hashimoto was appointed as interim senator on November 9, 2023.[82]
  17. Lakesia Collins was appointed as interim senator on August 16, 2023.[85]
  18. Natalie Toro was appointed as interim senator on July 11, 2023.[88]
  19. Mark L. Walker was appointed as interim senator on May 11, 2024.[90]
  20. Thomas M. Bennett was appointed as interim senator on January 9, 2023.[92]
  21. Dennis Nehring was appointed as interim representative on April 30, 2024.[117]
  22. Alessandro Cutrona was appointed as interim senator on June 26, 2024.[119]
  23. Karen Kwan was appointed as interim senator on January 16, 2023.[145]
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References

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