2002 United States state legislative elections

For related races, see 2002 United States elections.
2002 United States state legislative elections
← 2001 November 5, 2002 2003 →
88 legislative chambers in 46 states
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Party Republican Democratic Coalition
Chambers before 48 48[a] 1[c]
Chambers after 53 43[b] 0
Overall change Increase 5 Decrease 5 Decrease 1
Map of upper house elections:
     Democrats gained control      Democrats retained control
     Republicans gained control      Republicans retained control
     Split body formed
     Non-partisan legislature
     No regularly-scheduled elections
Map of lower house elections:
     Democrats retained control
     Republicans gained control      Republicans retained control
     Split body formed
     Non-partisan legislature
     No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2002 United States state legislative elections were held on November 5, 2002, halfway through President George W. Bush's first term in office. This was a unique election in which the incumbent Republican party performed surprisingly well for a midterm election. Elections were held for 91 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house.[1] Three territorial chambers in two territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.

Republicans flipped control of six chambers: the Colorado Senate, the Georgia Senate for the first time since 1873, the Missouri House of Representatives for the first time since 1955, the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since 1873,[2] the Washington Senate, and the Wisconsin Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats flipped control of the Illinois Senate. Additionally, the Arizona Senate went from a coalition government to Republican control. The Maine Senate went from an evenly divided power-sharing government to a Democratic one,[3] while the Oregon Senate went from Republican to tied.

Republicans had initially won control of the North Carolina House of Representatives by one seat, but Republican Michael P. Decker switched parties to become a Democrat, producing a tied chamber.[4]

Republicans won a trifecta in Texas for the first time since 1873, and in Missouri for the first time since 1923. As a result, Republicans held a majority of state legislative seats for the first time in half a century.[5]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "State legislative elections, 2002". Ballotpedia.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE" (PDF). lldc.mainelegislature.org. 2001. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
  4. ^ "Decker Switches to Democrats, Making House Even Split". WRAL.com. 2003-01-25. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  5. ^ Storey, Tim. The Book of the States 2005. The Council of State Governments. Retrieved 2010-01-01 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-01-09. Retrieved 2010-01-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)