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86 legislative chambers 44 states | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of upper house elections: Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Map of lower house elections: Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Coalition retained control Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections | |||||||||||||||||||||
The 2020 United States state legislative elections were held on November 3, 2020, for 86 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 took 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.
Prior to the elections, Democrats held 15 trifectas (control of the governor's office and legislative chambers), Republicans held 21 trifectas, and 14 states have a divided government. Nationwide, Republicans controlled approximately 60 percent of the legislative chambers and 52 percent of the legislative seats.[1] These elections had a major impact on the 2020 redistricting cycle, as many states held their final legislative elections prior to the decennial drawing of new congressional and state legislative districts.
Due to the impact the redistricting cycle will have on partisan control of Congress and state legislatures, the Democrats, who had not been in control of a majority of state legislatures across the U.S. since 2010, had hoped to retake control of key chambers in advance. However, despite fundraising efforts and projections of several Republican-held chambers in competitive states flipping, the Democrats failed to flip any state chambers, which they attributed to gerrymandering in the wake of the 2010 elections, as well as state laws restricting voting, President Donald Trump being on the ballot, and the Democrats' campaigning methods. In fact, Republicans flipped both chambers in the New Hampshire legislature.[2][3][4][5]
Following the election, Republicans controlled redistricting in 20 state governments, totaling 188 House districts, whereas Democrats had control in states with a total of 73 districts.[6] Overall, these elections saw the fewest partisan changes in state legislatures since 1944.[7]
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- ^ Panetta, Grace (April 16, 2020). "The coronavirus crisis is drastically changing the battle for state legislatures and could completely reshape who controls Congress". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 20, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ Demsas, Jerusalem (November 5, 2020). "Democrats fail to make gains in state legislative races in advance of 2021 redistricting". Vox. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Mutnick, Ally; Rodriguez, Sabrina (November 4, 2020). "'A decade of power': Statehouse wins position GOP to dominate redistricting". Politico. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Berman, Russell (November 10, 2020). "The Failure That Could Haunt Democrats for a Decade". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Brown-Kaiser, Liz; Caldwell, Leigh Ann (November 10, 2020). "Democrats blame increased Trump turnout, uphill races for failure to win state legislative seats". NBC News. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Gabriel, Trip (November 27, 2020). "How Democrats Suffered Crushing Down-Ballot Losses Across America". The New York Times.
- ^ McCausland, Phil (November 13, 2020). "Democrats gear up to fight gerrymandering after state House losses". NBC News. Retrieved November 17, 2020.