October 2020 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 46.80% Democrats, 52.07% Republicans


Image of donkey and elephant to symbolize the Democratic and Republican parties.

46.80% of all state legislators are Democrats and 52.07% are Republicans, according to Ballotpedia’s October partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States.

Ballotpedia tallies the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. This refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in each chamber. Republicans hold a majority in 59 chambers and Democrats hold a majority in 39 chambers. Alaska’s chamber is the only one to have a power-sharing agreement between the two parties.

Nationally, the state legislatures include 1,972 state senators and 5,411 state representatives. Democrats hold 875 state Senate seats—gaining one since September—and 2,580 state House seats—up one from last month. Republicans hold 3,844 of the 7,383 state legislative seats—1,084 state Senate seats (up three seats) and 2,760 state House seats (up one from last month). Independent or third-party legislators hold 34 seats, of which 30 are state House seats and four state Senate seats. There are 50 vacant seats.

In the October prior to the 2016 general election, Democrats held 818 state Senate seats (57 fewer than today) and 2,332 state House seats (a decrease of 248), while Republicans held 1,086 state Senate seats (an additional two when compared to today) and 3,016 state House seats (an increase of 256).

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