State legislative elections, 2025

2025 State Legislative Elections
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Two of the country's 99 state legislative chambers are holding regularly-scheduled elections in 2025. Elections in those two chambers represent 180 of the country's 7,386 state legislative seats (2.4%).

General elections in New Jersey and Virginia will take place on November 4, 2025.

Off-year elections in Virginia are often studied as a forecast of the broader political trends to expect from the following year's national elections.^[1] The New York Times' Neil Vigdor wrote in December 2024, "In recent elections, Virginia has become a vessel for millions of dollars in spending by outside groups, and its open governor’s seat and divided legislature appears likely to continue that trend."^[2]

States are also holding special state legislative elections in 2025 to fill vacant seats. Click here for more.

On this page you will find:

• Nationwide partisan balance figures
• State government trifecta statuses
• States holding elections
• Special election information
• Competitiveness data
• Political context

Partisan balance[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state legislatures

As of April 27th, 2025, Republicans controlled 55.63% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.66%. Republicans held a majority in 57 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 39 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions. One chamber (Minnesota House of Representatives) was split evenly between both parties.

Partisan balance of all 7,386 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber			Other	Vacant
State senates	834	1,124	5	10
State houses	2,391	2,985	19	18
Total:	3,225	4,109	24	28

Elections by state[edit]

The table below highlights each state holding legislative elections in 2025. To learn more about elections in a particular chamber, click the link in the chamber column.

Battleground chambers[edit]

Ballotpedia is tracking one state legislative battleground chamber in 2025.

The columns in the chart below list the following:

• Seats up in 2025: This is the number of seats that are up for election in 2025.
• Margin: This is the difference in seats between the majority and minority parties.
• Majority share of seats: This is the percentage of the chamber's seats controlled by the majority party.
• Last time party control changed: This is the election where the current majority took control of the chamber.

State legislative special elections[edit]

See also: State legislative special elections, 2025

As of April 2025, 53 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2025 in 19 states. Between 2011 and 2024, an average of 70 special elections took place each year.

Targeted chambers[edit]

DLCC targets[edit]

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced they would target the Virginia House in the 2025 elections:^[3]

RSLC targets[edit]

As of April 2025, Ballotpedia did not identify any statements from RSLC about targeted chambers in 2025. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

Satellite spending[edit]

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[6][7][8]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

On Feb. 18, 2025, the Republican State Leadership Committee announced a six-figure Virginia ad campaign, stating:

On April 7, 2025, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced a seven-figure Virginia ad campaign. DLCC Director Heather Williams said:

Historical competitiveness data[edit]

See also: Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report: Vol. 13, 2023

Ballotpedia began examining the competitiveness of every state legislative race in the country in 2010. Three factors are used in this analysis: seats where the incumbent did not run for re-election, incumbents who ran in contested primaries, and seats contested by both major parties.

The following table details competitiveness data collected from regularly scheduled state legislative elections between 2010 and 2023. Odd-year elections are shown grouped together first followed by even-year elections.

Impact of term limits[edit]

See also: State legislatures with term limits

At the time of the 2025 elections, legislators in New Jersey and Virginia are not subject to term limits.

Election dates[edit]

The following table details 2025 state legislative filing deadlines and primary dates in each state. The signature filing deadline was the date by which candidates had to file nominating signatures with election officials in order to have their names placed on the ballot.

Trifectas[edit]

See also: State government trifectas

State government trifecta is a term to describe single-party government, when one political party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.

As of April 27, 2025, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.

Political context[edit]

The 2025 cycle is the first election cycle after the 2024 presidential election. Both chambers in New Jersey and the Virginia House held elections in 2023.

Changes in chamber partisan control, 2010 to 2024[edit]

See also: Partisan composition of state legislatures

From 2010 to 2024, 41 chambers switched control: 21 switched control once, 14 switched control twice, four switched control four times, and two—the Minnesota House of Representatives and New Hampshire House of Representatives—switched control five times. During that same time, there were 58 chambers that did not switch control.

Before the 2010 elections, Democrats controlled 60 of the country's 99 state legislative chambers, Republicans controlled 37, and neither party controlled the remaining two chambers. After the 2024 elections, Democrats controlled 39 chambers and Republicans controlled 57. Multipartisan majorities controlled the Alaska Senate and House, and the Minnesota House was tied.

Most changes in partisan control came from major elections, but some also came through special elections (Louisiana House in 2010; Washington Senate in 2017) and party-switching (Louisiana House in 2010; Mississippi Senate in 2011). In some cases, the party that gained control did not have a numerical majority but instead controlled the chamber through a bipartisan coalition (i.e., Alaska House in 2016). This table does not account for changes in party control or ties in a chamber that lasted for less than one year and were not the result of a regularly scheduled election. An example of this is the brief period of Democratic control in the Virginia State Senate in 2014.^[11]

For this chart, a red box indicates that the chamber changed from Democratic to Republican control, and a blue box indicates that the chamber changed from Republican to Democratic control.^[12]

The chart below shows how many chambers each party controlled after the November elections in a given year.

The chart below shows the number of state legislative chambers that changed party control in each election from 1992 to 2024.

The chart below shows the number of state legislative chambers where at least one legislative seat changed party control in each election from 1992 to 2024.

Trifectas from 2010 to 2024[edit]

See also: State government trifectas

A state government trifecta occurs when one political party controls the primary levers of power in a state: the governor's office, the state Senate, and the state House. From 2010 to 2018, the Republican Party increased its number of trifectas and the Democratic Party saw a decline in its trifectas. Democrats picked up six trifectas in the 2018 elections, and Republicans lost four trifectas. Following the 2021 elections, the Democratic trifecta in Virginia became a split government after Republicans gained control of the state House and governorship. After the 2023 elections, the divided government in Louisiana became a Republican trifecta when Jeff Landry (R) won election as governor. After the 2024 elections, Republicans maintained their trifectas, and two Democratic trifectas became divided governments.

This chart shows the number of trifectas each party held heading into elections from 2010 to 2024, and the number of trifectas following the 2024 elections.

What's on your ballot?[edit]

See also: Sample Ballot Lookup

See also[edit]

• Signature requirements and deadlines for 2025 state government elections
• Comparing the competitiveness index for state legislative elections
• State legislative special elections, 2025

Other elections

• State executive official elections, 2025
• State supreme court elections, 2025
• United States municipal elections, 2025
• 2025 ballot measures

Footnotes[edit]

v • e State legislatures Legislatures Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S) 2025 State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates 2024 State legislative elections (2024) • State legislative special elections (2024) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2024 Session Dates 2023 State legislative elections (2023) • State legislative special elections (2023) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2023 Session Dates Historical elections 2022 •  2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000 Features of state legislatures How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections State senates Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected State houses Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected Leadership positions President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House