The 2010 United States state legislative elections were held on November 2, 2010, halfway through PresidentBarack Obama's first term in office. Elections were held for 88 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Kansas and New Mexico held elections for their lower, but not upper houses. Four territorial chambers in three territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.
Republicans scored record gains, gaining at least 680 total seats and taking control of 20 legislative chambers through election, while the Democrats lost 21 chambers.[1][2] The winners of this election cycle were slated to serve in their respective legislatures for either two or four-year terms, depending on state election rules.
Republicans made substantial gains in state legislatures across the nation. Twenty chambers flipped from Democratic to Republican control, giving Republicans full control of eleven state legislatures and control of one chamber in Colorado, Iowa, and New York.[3] Additionally, Republicans gained enough seats in the Oregon House of Representatives to produce a 30-30 party split, pushing Democrats into a power-sharing agreement that resulted in the election of two "co-speakers" (one from each party) to lead the chamber.[4] Republicans gained a total of 680 seats in state legislative races, breaking the previous record of 628 flipped seats set by Democrats in the post-Watergate elections of 1974.[5]
Six states saw both chambers switch from Democrat to Republican majorities: Alabama (where the Republicans won a majority and a trifecta for the first time since 1874), Maine (for the first time since 1964), Minnesota (for the first time since 1915 in partisan elections and 1973 in non-partisan elections), New Hampshire, North Carolina (for the first time since 1896), and Wisconsin. In addition, by picking up the lower chambers in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Montana[c] and Pennsylvania, Republicans gained control of both chambers in an additional five states. Further, Republicans picked up one chamber from Democrats in Colorado, Iowa, and New York to split control in those states. They expanded majorities in both chambers in Texas, Florida, and Georgia.[6][7] The Republican victories in legislative races gave the party unprecedented power over the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts following the 2010 census.[8]
Summary table
Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 88 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States; nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections were held for 6,064 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Most 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.[9] The chambers that were 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 election years.
Note that this table only covers regularly-scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly-scheduled elections.
State government trifectas after the 2010 gubernatorial and state legislative elections Democrats gained control Democrats retained control Split government formed Split government maintained Republicans retained control Republicans gained control
All of the seats of the Alaska House of Representatives and half of the Alaska Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and the House retained coalition control.
All of the seats of the Colorado House of Representatives and half of the Colorado Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House and Democrats maintained control of the Senate.
All of the seats of the Indiana House of Representatives and half of the Indiana Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and won control of the House of Representatives.
All of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives and half of the Iowa Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and Democrats maintained control of the Senate.
All of the seats of the Kentucky House of Representatives and half of the Kentucky Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and Democrats maintained control of the House of Representatives.
All of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives and half of the Montana Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House and maintained control of the Senate.
Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature; half of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature were up for election in 2014. 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. Republicans maintained control.
All of the seats of the New York Legislature were up for election. Republicans won control of the Senate, and Democrats maintained control of the Assembly.
All of the seats of the Ohio House of Representatives and half of the Ohio Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House of Repersentatives and maintained control of the Senate.
All of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives and half of the Oregon Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of the Senate, and the House of Representatives became tied.
All of the seats of the Texas House of Representatives and half of the Texas Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.
All of the seats of the Utah House of Representatives and half of the Utah Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.
All of the seats of the Wisconsin Assembly and half of the Wisconsin Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of both state legislative chambers.
All of the seats of the American Samoa Senate and the American Samoa House of Representatives were up for election. 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.
^ abThe Alaska Senate was controlled by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. The minority caucus consists of Republicans who were not part of the majority coalition.
^Prior to the 2010 election, the 100 seats in the Montana House of Representatives were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but the Democratic Party controlled the chamber by virtue of holding the governor's office.
^ abcdefghThe upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.
^ abcThese figures represent the seats of Nebraska's unicameral legislature.
^Prior to the 2010 election, the 100 seats in the Montana House of Representatives were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but the Democratic Party controlled the chamber by virtue of holding the governor's office.
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