Tag: State leg
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October 2020 breakdown of state legislative party membership: 46.80% Democrats, 52.07% Republicans
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…
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5,904 state legislative seats up for election on November 3
Forty-four states and five United States territories—American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S Virgin Islands—are holding state legislative general elections on November 3, 2020. There are 5,904 seats up for regular election, and 15 seats up for special election, meaning 5,919 state legislative seats are on the ballot on November 3.…
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West Virginia state legislator resigns
On Oct. 3, Delegate John Mandt Jr. (R) resigned from the West Virginia House of Delegates. He announced his resignation following accusations that he made discriminatory social media posts against gay people and Muslims. As reported by Cumberland Times-News, Mandt responded to the accusations in a deleted Facebook post: “Everything electronic can be fabricated. It’s…
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Trujillo resigns from New Mexico House of Representatives
On Sept. 28, Rep. Jim Trujillo (D) resigned from the District 45 seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives, citing health and family reasons. Trujillo was first appointed to the seat in 2003 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Patsy Trujillo, to whom he is not related. Trujillo’s successor will be…
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Comparing state legislative fundraising from 2018 to 2020
The value of money in state-level politics extends beyond purchasing power. Campaign cash allows candidates to promote their message and turn out their voters, but perhaps more importantly, it may represent momentum. While having the biggest campaign account is no guarantee of success at the polls, studies conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Finance…
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Luther, Springer advance to runoff in Texas’ State Senate District 30 special election
Shelley Luther (R) and Drew Springer (R) will advance to a runoff in Texas’ State Senate District 30 special election. As of 10:30 p.m. EST with 97% of precincts reporting, Luther and Springer had each received 32% of the vote, respectively. Jacob Minter (D) followed with 21%. No other candidate received over 10% of the…
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When do election winners take office?
With the 2020 election cycle coming to a close, voters may be wondering how quickly those they elected will take office. At the federal level, members of Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2021, and the president will be sworn in on January 20, 2021. Wondering about state-level offices? Check out Ballotpedia’s page,…
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August breakdown of state legislative party membership: 52.0% Republicans, 46.8% Democrats
Ballotpedia’s latest analysis of the partisan affiliation of all 7,383 state legislators in the United States shows 46.8% of state legislators are Democrats and 52.0% are Republicans. The partisan composition of state legislators stayed consistent as compared with July 2020. Every month, Ballotpedia analyzes the partisan composition of state legislatures—1,972 state Senate seats and 5,411…
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79.6% of incumbents faced no primary challenges this year, highest rate since 2014
Ballotpedia’s annual state legislative competitiveness report shows that, this year, 79.6% of incumbents advanced to the general election without a primary challenge. This is a higher rate than in 2018 and 2016, which saw no contested primaries for 78.1% and 79.4% of incumbents, respectively. States where more incumbents face primary challenges have a more competitive…
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Decade-high 85% of state legislative incumbents seeking re-election this year
According to our 10th annual state legislative elections competitiveness research, a decade-high 85% of incumbents are seeking re-election this year. Comparatively, 80.4% of incumbents sought re-election in 2018 and 82.4% in 2016. A greater number of open seats—a race where the incumbent is not seeking re-election at the time of the primary—tends to increase competitiveness.…