Welcome to the Monday, March 10, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Democrats lost 92 state legislative seats during Biden’s presidency. Their current 44% of seats nationwide is 10 percentage points fewer than the century average
- A comprehensive look at 135 years of ballot measures in Washington
- New Jersey voters to get a new primary ballot design and county conventions lose their central role in this year’s gubernatorial nominations
Democrats lost 92 state legislative seats during Biden’s presidency. Their current 44% of seats nationwide is 10 percentage points fewer than the century average
Brew readers may recall that we’ve analyzed several data points from the 2024 state legislative elections over the past month, including their margins of victory, incumbent success rates, and overall partisan composition changes. We also examined these elections last month in our Feb. 6 episode of On The Ballot.
Today, we’re examining changes in state legislative seats over the course of the entire Biden administration.
At the end of Joe Biden’s presidency, Democrats held 3217 (44%) of the country’s state legislative seats, and Republicans held 4103 (56%). Between 1921 and 2023, Democrats held an average of 54% of state legislative seats, and Republicans held an average of 45%.
During Biden’s presidency, Democrats lost a net 92 state legislative seats, reducing the party’s overall share of state legislative seats from 3,309 to 3,217, or one percentage point. This was the fewest seats that any president’s party lost since 1921. Two presidents—George H.W. Bush (R) and Ronald Reagan (R)—saw their party gain state legislative seats during their presidencies.
Democrats also lost fewer state legislative seats during the Biden administration than they did during any other Democratic president’s first term since 1921.
Democrats held 3,309 seats when Biden assumed office, 769 fewer than they held when Barack Obama assumed office in 2009. It was the fewest at the start of any Democratic presidency since at least 1933. When Jimmy Carter assumed office in 1977, there were 5,116 Democratic state legislators, the most at the start of any Democratic presidency since at least 1933.
From 1921 to 2025, Democrats held more state legislative seats than Republicans for 74 years, and Republicans held more seats for 30 years.
The closest margin occurred in 2003, when Democrats held just 11 more seats than Republicans. The widest margin was in 1977, when Democrats had 2,734 more seats than Republicans.
Changes in chamber control during the Biden administration:
Of the 99 state legislative chambers:
- Republicans held more seats at the end of Biden’s presidency in 56 chambers.
- Democrats held more seats at the end of Biden’s presidency in 30 chambers.
- 13 chambers had no change in partisan balance.
Republicans won majorities in three chambers during Biden’s presidency.
One chamber changed from Democratic to split control.
Two chambers switched party control during the presidency but switched back by the end of Biden’s presidency:
Democrats gained trifectas in Minnesota and Michigan during Biden’s presidency but ultimately lost both. Republicans did not gain or lose any trifectas throughout Biden’s presidency.
A comprehensive look at 135 years of ballot measures in Washington
Ballotpedia’s Historical Ballot Measure Factbook will document nearly 200 years of direct democracy in the United States. This ongoing research effort will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers, reporters, and the public on how ballot measures have evolved, the issues they have covered, and their role in our civic life.
We introduced this project last summer when we featured Texas’ historical ballot measures and gave Brew readers a sneak peek at what to expect as we expand our Fact Book to all 50 states. Since then, we’ve published summaries about seven more states:
Today, let’s look at historical ballot measures in Washington. Our comprehensive inventory of Washington’s ballot measures spans from 1889, when Washington became the 42nd state, to 2024.
Washington was the 42nd state to join the Union, but it was the 18th state to get initiative and referendum.
In that time, Washingtonians decided on 510 measures, approving 268 and defeating 242 – a 52.5% approval rate.
Here’s how that compares to the other states we’ve published summary content on so far:
The chart below shows the total number of measures Washington voters decided on in each decade. Between the 1890s and 2020s, Washington voters decided on an average of 34 measures in each decade.
Washington voters decided on the most ballot measures in the 2010s. In 2007, voters approved Initiative 960, which required an automatic statewide advisory question on bills to increase tax revenue. Voters decided on 31 advisory questions from 2012 to 2019. Nine more were on the ballot in the 2020s before then-Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed Senate Bill 5082 in 2023, repealing the advisory question requirement.
Between 1889 and 2024, the Washington Legislature put 279 measures on the ballot, while there were 231 citizen initiatives.
Washington ballot measures addressed 79 unique topics, with some addressing multiple topics in one measure.
Here is a selection of important and interesting measures from the Washington Factbook:
- Voters rejected ballot measures in 1889 and 1898 that would have given women the right to vote. In 1910, voters passed a constitutional amendment establishing women’s suffrage.
- In 1912, voters approved a measure establishing the initiative and referendum process.
- In 1924, voters rejected Initiative 49, which would have required all children between the ages of seven and 16 to attend public schools. As we mentioned in last week’s Brew, voters in Oregon approved a similar measure in 1922, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional on June 1, 1925.
- In 1970, Washington became the first state to legalize abortion via ballot measure when voters approved Referendum 20. In 1984, voters rejected an initiative that would have prohibited state funds from being used for abortions. In 1991, voters approved an initiative to provide that “the state may not deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or to protect her life or health.”
- In 1975, voters rejected a constitutional amendment to allow state financial assistance for students attending private schools. From 1996 to 2000, voters rejected three initiatives related to school choice policies—Initiative 173, Initiative 177, and Initiative 729.
- Voters approved an initiative establishing top-two primaries in 2004.
- In 2012, Washington, along with Maine and Maryland, became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage via ballot measure. Also in 2012, Washington, along with Colorado, became the first state to approve a ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana.
New Jersey voters to get a new primary ballot design and county conventions lose their central role in this year’s gubernatorial nominations
New Jersey’s gubernatorial primaries are getting a new look this year. When voters go to the polls on June 10 to pick their nominees, the ballot will look different from those that defined New Jersey politics for many years because it will be the first gubernatorial primary without the county-line ballot design.
On March 6, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed A5116/S4142 into law, eliminating the county-line system and requiring county clerks to use an office block ballot design that groups candidates by the office they are running for.
Though most jurisdictions in the U.S. use an office block ballot design, as Politico’s Matthew Friedman explained in a February episode of Ballotpedia’s On the Ballot, New Jersey had traditionally taken a different approach.
Friedman said, “in the vast majority of counties, especially the ones with a lot of people in them, New Jersey political parties would endorse a candidate…after they endorse this candidate, when it comes to the primary ballot, the way it was structured is there’s a column or a row where you start with the highest office, and you go to the lowest office, and you could just check that down.”
The image below, from Burlington County’s website, shows how counties used the county line ballot design for the 2021 primaries.
During the 2024 primaries, three Democratic candidates for the U.S. Congress sued in U.S. District Court to eliminate the county line ballot design. Following the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi issued a preliminary injunction blocking the county line use in the June 4th Democratic Primary. For more information on the county line ballot design lawsuits, click here.
Although the county line ballot design will not be used in the 2025 primaries, county parties are still holding conventions to decide on endorsements. As of March 6, the Democratic Party in six counties had decided on endorsements.
Democratic candidates and county conventions
Alongside the change in how the ballot will look, some candidates are skipping county conventions, which have typically been central to New Jersey’s nomination process.
Of the six candidates running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, three candidates, Ras Baraka (D), Mikie Sherrill (D), and Sean Spiller (D), participated in all six conventions. Stephen Sweeney (D) participated in five conventions. Josh Gottheimer (D) participated in one convention and withdrew from another. Steve Fulop (D) said he would not participate in any convention. Sherrill has won endorsements in four counties, and Sweeney has won endorsements in two.
On the Republican side, Jack Ciattarelli has won endorsements unopposed in the Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Passaic county conventions, and Bill Spadea won the endorsement in Ocean County. Spadea said he would not participate in any state GOP conventions except for the one in Ocean County,
where the chair endorsed him. Two other Republican candidates, Ed Durr and Jon Bramnick, are also not participating in the county conventions.
NorthJersey.com’s Katie Sobko wrote, “It remains to be seen exactly what, if any, impact those endorsements will have on the primary now that a new ballot without the traditional county-line design will be used throughout the state.”