2016 United States state legislative elections
November 8, 2016
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86 legislative chambers 44 states | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Map of upper house elections: Democrats gained control Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Coalition gained control Coalition retained control Split body formed Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections | |||||||||||||||||||||
Map of lower house elections: Democrats gained control Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Coalition gained control Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections | |||||||||||||||||||||
The 2016 United States state legislative elections were held on November 8, 2016, for 86 state legislative chambers in 44 states. Across the fifty states, approximately 65 percent of all upper house seats and 85 percent of all lower house seats were up for election. Nine legislative chambers in the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories and the federal district of Washington, D.C. also held elections. The elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, including the presidential election, U.S. Senate elections, U.S. House elections, and gubernatorial elections.
Democrats won both chambers in the Nevada Legislature and the New Mexico House of Representatives, while Republicans won the Kentucky House of Representatives for the first time since 1922, the Iowa Senate, and the Minnesota Senate. The Alaska House of Representatives flipped from Republican control to a Democrat-led coalition majority, and the Connecticut State Senate went from Democratic control to tied control. Meanwhile, the New York Senate went from Republican to a Republican-led coalition.
The Democrats' loss in Kentucky marked the end of the realignment of the conservative South towards the Republicans, as the House of Representatives was the last chamber they held in the region, and the last chamber they controlled in a deeply Republican state. This also gave Republicans a government trifecta in the state for the first time in its history.