September 2019 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 52.1% Republicans, 46.9% Democrats


September’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.1% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.9% are Democrats.
 
Ballotpedia completes a count of the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. The partisan composition of state legislatures refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in the state senate and state house. Republicans hold a majority in 61 chambers, and Democrats hold the majority in 37 chambers. One chamber (Alaska’s state House) has a power-sharing agreement between the two parties.
 
Altogether, there are 1,972 state senators and 5,411 state representatives. Republicans held 1,079 state senate seats—down three seats from August—and 2,771 state house seats—up two seats. Democrats held 3,464 of the 7,383 state legislative seats—879 state Senate seats (up one seat from August) and 2,585 state House seats (no change). Independent or third-party legislators held 35 seats. There were 34 vacant seats.
 
At the time of the 2018 elections, 7,280 state legislators were affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties. There were 3,257 Democratic state legislators, 4,023 Republican state legislators, 35 independent or third-party state legislators, and 68 vacancies.
 
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