2015 United States state legislative elections

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2015 United States state legislative elections

← 2014 November 3, 2015 2016 →

7 legislative chambers
4 states
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Party Republican Democratic Coalition
Chambers before 68 30 1[a]
Chambers after 68 30 1[a]
Overall change Steady Steady Steady

Map of upper house elections:
     Republicans retained control
     No regularly-scheduled elections

Map of lower house elections:
     Democrats retained control
     Republicans retained control
     No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2015 United States state legislative elections were held on November 3, 2015. Seven legislative chambers in four states held regularly scheduled elections. These off-year elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in three states.[1]

Republicans maintained control of both chambers of the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia legislatures, while Democrats maintained control of the New Jersey General Assembly. This is the last time no state legislative chambers changed partisan control.

Summary table[edit]

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 7 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 538 of the 7,383 legislative seats. This table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.

State Upper House Lower House
Seats up Total % up Term Seats up Total % up Term
Louisiana 39 39 100 4 105 105 100 4
Mississippi 52 52 100 4 122 122 100 4
New Jersey 0 40 0 2/4[b] 80 80 100 2
Virginia 40 40 100 4 100 100 100 2

State summaries[edit]

Louisiana[edit]

All seats of the Louisiana State Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in single-member districts. Republicans retained majority control in both chambers.

Louisiana State Senate
Party Leader Before After Change
Republican John Alario 26 25 Decrease 1
Democratic Eric LaFleur 14 12 Increase 1
Total 39 39
Louisiana House of Representatives
Party Leader Before After Change
Republican Chuck Kleckley 58 61 Increase 3
Democratic Gene Reynolds 43 42 Decrease 1
Independent 2 2 Steady
Total 105 105

Mississippi[edit]

All seats of the Mississippi State Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in single-member districts. Republicans retained majority control in both chambers.

Mississippi State Senate
Party Leader Before After Change
Republican Giles Ward 32 32 Steady
Democratic Steve Hale 20 20 Steady
Total 52 52
Mississippi House of Representatives
Party Leader Before After Change
Republican Philip Gunn 67 73 Increase 6
Democratic Robert Moak 54 49 Decrease 5
Total 122 122

New Jersey[edit]

All seats of the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election to two-year terms in coterminous two-member districts. The New Jersey Senate did not hold regularly-scheduled elections. Democrats maintained majority control in the lower house.

New Jersey General Assembly
Party Leader Before After Change
Democratic Vincent Prieto 48 52 Increase 4
Republican Jon Bramnick 32 28 Decrease 4
Total 80 80

Virginia[edit]

All seats of the Senate of Virginia and the Virginia House of Delegates were up for election in single-member districts. Senators were elected to four-year terms, while delegates serve terms of two years. Republicans maintained control of both legislative chambers.

Senate of Virginia
Party Leader Before After Change
Democratic Dick Saslaw 19 19 Steady
Republican Tommy Norment 21 21 Steady
Total 40 40
Virginia House of Delegates
Party Leader Before After Change
Democratic David Toscano 33 34 Increase 1
Republican William J. Howell 67 66 Decrease 1
Total 100 100

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b In the Washington State Senate, one Democrat caucused with Republicans to form the Majority Coalition Caucus
  2. ^ The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "State legislative elections, 2015". Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 25, 2022.