Democrats will hold most legislative trifectas since 1984

Along with a dramatic change in congressional majorities on Election Day, an analysis from the National Conference of State Legislatures showed large shifts in legislative majorities around the country, flipping from a majority of Republican legislatures to majority Democrat.

Democrats also now hold a large number of trifectas, said the conference’s Katy Owens Hubler, meaning they control both chambers of the state legislature alongside a Democratic governor. Heading into the elections, Republicans held 23 trifectas nationwide, and that was cut down to 17. Democrats now will have 22 trifectas beginning in January.

“This is a high point for Democratic trifectas going back to before 1984,” said Owens Hubler, director of the elections and redistricting program at the organization.

In blue wave, Democrats flipped legislatures, won trifectas and toppled GOP supermajorities

NCSL, the nonpartisan organization that represents and supports state legislatures nationwide, held a press event on Friday to discuss the election results. Prior to the election, Republicans controlled 28 state legislative chambers while Democrats controlled 18. Now, Democrats will control 24 chambers and Republicans will have 21. It’s the largest shift for Democrats since 2010, according to NCSL.

Votes are still being counted in some races, and results remain unofficial until certified in the coming weeks.

The legislative chambers that flipped or are expected to flip from Republican to Democrat include Houses in Alaska, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas, and the Senate in Pennsylvania. Both chambers flipped in Arizona, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. 

That leaves Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas as divided chambers that were previously both controlled by Republicans, although some races in Alaska and North Carolina remain too close to call.

“Going back to 2012, we have had both legislative chambers in all of the Southern states be red,” said Owens Hubler. “This new map … is pretty new and pretty different from the trend that we had been seeing for the last dozen years.”

At least five governor seats already officially turned from Republican to Democrat — Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada and Texas. Alaska is expected to elect a Democratic governor as well once all of the ballots are tabulated, the NCSL team said.

“If that is the case, we’re looking at 30 Democratic governors and 20 Republican governors,” Owens Hubler said. “Again, they haven’t had the majority of governors’ mansions since before 2010, and 30 is quite a large number for them.”

Stateline reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris can be reached at [email protected].