• Mission & Governance
• Services Overview
• How to Get Involved
• Standing Committees
• NCSL Foundation

• Issue Areas: A-Z
• State-Federal Relations
• NCSL Standing Committees
• News from D.C. and the States

• About State Legislatures
• Elections, Campaigns & Redistricting
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory
• Web Sites

• Online Guide to NCSL Services
• Staff Sections and Networks
• Meetings & Professional Development
• Staff Directories

• Meetings Calendar
• Online Registration
• Meetings Home Page
• Legislative Summit

• Bookstore
• State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory

Legislative Elections

(As of 5:30 a.m. MDT November 3, 1999)
(Update Noon MDT 11/3/99)

Partisan Control in states holding legislative elections on November 2, 1999

Colored text indicates chamber control: blue text indicates Democratic control, red text indicates Republican control,
and green text indicates split control.

Overall control of state legislatures got a little tighter on Tuesday when Virginia voters shifted control of the Virginia House of Delegates to the GOP giving them control of the Virginia Legislature for the first time since reconstruction. Although all results are still unofficial, it appears that Virginia Republicans will control the House of Delegates with a 52-47 advantage. One independent who attends Republican caucus meetings was re-elected. Republicans retained their 21-19 advantage in the Virginia Senate and defeated Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Stanley Walker who has served 28 years in the Senate.

Following the 1999 elections, Democrats control 19 state legislatures while Republicans control 18 states, and 12 are split between the two parties. Tuesday elections determined the winners of all the seats in five legislative chambers, but the Virginia House was the only one where party control switched. In New Jersey, Republicans held control of the State Assembly although Democrats picked up three seats narrowing the margin of GOP control to 45-35. In Mississippi, Democrats gained three House seats, padding their majority to 86-33 with three independents. In the Mississippi Senate, party control was unchanged with the Democrats having a 34-18 edge. The presiding officer in the Mississippi Senate will be newly elected Democratic Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck, a former Senator and Senate Chief Clerk.

Louisiana will complete 1999 elections on November 20^th when runoff elections are conducted. The Democrats will retain control of both the Louisiana House and Senate having already won majorities prior to the runoff elections.

The Washington House will remain tied at 49-49 despite a special election Tuesday. Democrats failed to win the seat held by incumbent Republican Don Cox who was appointed in mid-term to fill a vacancy.

The Mississippi House may have to resolve the question of who the next Mississippi governor will be. Democratic candidate Ronnie Musgrove failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote for governor although he had a razor thin lead of 6000 votes over Republican candidate Mike Parker. A reform party candidate and an independent each garnered one percent of the vote. Under Mississippi law, the Mississippi House would decide the governor if no candidate received a majority of the votes cast. With the off year elections of Louisiana Republican governor Mike Foster and Kentucky Democrat Paul Patton, Republicans hold their sizable lead in governors--30 are Republican, 17 are Democrat, one Independent and one Reform Party. Mississippi will remain in the undecided column until all the votes are counted.

Mississippi and Vermont are the only two states where the Legislature determines the winner of the governor's race if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. Georgia and Louisiana require a runoff of the top two candidates when that happens. In the other 46 states, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast is elected.

Going into the 1999 off year elections, Democrats controlled 19 state legislatures; Republicans controlled 17 and 13 were split between the two parties. Nebraska is a nonpartisan Legislature.

Pre-Election Ballot Information

Only five initiatives appeared on the ballot this year, and two of the five passed. That number may sound low after last year's total of 55, but in fact, it's typical for an odd-year election. Most states only allow initiatives on the ballot in even-numbered years, so look for that number to increase sharply in next year's general elections.

Maine voters rejected a ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions on election day this year, with 54% of the voters saying no. They looked more favorably upon legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, however, with 61% of voters saying yes. That makes Maine the seventh state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana in the last five years. And at least one state, Colorado, will vote on it in the 2000 general election. Click here (www.state.me.us/sos/cec/elec/intco99g.htm) to view both Maine measures.

Voters in Mississippi rejected a term limits initiative, with 55% of voters voting no. The measure, which would have limited state legislators to no more than eight consecutive years in each chamber, almost didn't make it to the ballot at all. In last year's general election, Mississippi voters approved a constitutional amendment stipulating that initiative petition signature-gatherers had to be residents of the state. The amendment contained a provision making it retroactive, and since the term limits signatures were gathered by paid workers, many from out-of-state, the amendment nullified the term limits measure and knocked it from the ballot. The constitutional amendment was challenged in court, however, and the judge ruled that while the state had the right to require that petition signature-gatherers be residents of the state, it did not have the right to make such a requirement retroactive. Thus the term limits measure went back on the ballot to be defeated at the polls. This could be an indication that the term limits frenzy of the 1990s is finally winding down.

Washington voters passed a controversial initiative that repeals car tab taxes and requires voter approval of all new state and local tax increases. Up until now, car owners paid a state license fee of about $24 plus a motor vehicle excise tax equal to 2.2% of the value of the car, with some car owners paying as much as $1,200 per car. This measure does away with the excise tax entirely, and sets the license fee at $30 for all cars. Last November, Washington voters approved Referendum 49, which authorized the state to use $2 billion of the revenue generated by these taxes and fees for highway improvements. The Legislature will now have to find a new way to fund those improvements. All told, car tab taxes and fees generated $750 million a year for state and local government, funding not only transportation projects but also police, fire, criminal justice and public health programs. Beyond the sweeping changes to car tab fees and taxes, I-695 requires voter approval for all new state and local tax or fee increases. 59% of Washington voters said no to the second initiative on their ballot, which would have banned commercial net fishing in state waters.