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NEWS RELEASE

Date: November 12, 2002 (Updated December 9, 2002)
Media Contact: Gene Rose 303-856-1518 / Bill Wyatt 202-624-8667

Republican Gains Bring Parties to Legislative Parity

DENVER - Republicans made significant gains in state legislative seats, taking over seven state legislative chambers previously tied or controlled by Democrats. As a result, Republicans ended an historic election trend where the President's party has lost seats in every mid-term election cycle since at least 1938.

"When it comes to legislators, 2002 will go down in history as the year that the two major parties wound up dead even. Republicans hold 49.6 percent, and Democrats have 49.4 percent, leaving 1 percent in the 'other' column," said NCSL election expert Tim Storey. "For 50 years, there have been more Democratic state legislators than Republican. The lines finally met this November. There are now ever so slightly more legislative seats held by Republicans for the first time since 1952."

Democrats will controll 16 state legislatures and the Republicans 21 states. Eleven states are now split with neither party controlling both chambers, while Nebraska is non-partisan.

Voters on Tuesday had to choose winners in more than 84 percent of the nation's 7,382 state legislative seats in 46 states. Prior to the election, Democrats controlled 51 percent of the nation's total state legislative seats, or an approximate 200-seat advantage over Republicans.

Now, parity is the case in many statehouses. In 22 of the nation's legislative chambers, the majority party holds less than 55 percent of the seats. A switch of merely one seat due to a vacancy would change party control in the Colorado Senate, Georgia Senate, Indiana House, North Carolina House and the Washington Senate.

2002 election results include:

· Republicans control 21 legislatures, up from 17. Republican states are: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

· Democrats control 16 legislatures, down from 18. Democrat states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia.

· Twelve states have split party control, down from 14. Those states are: Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

· Republicans gained control of seven chambers: Arizona Senate, Colorado Senate, Georgia Senate, Missouri House, Texas House, Wisconsin Senate, Washington Senate

· Democrats gained control of one chamber, the Illinois Senate, and earned a tie in the Oregon Senate.

· The Nebraska Unicameral is nonpartisan.

Term limits and redistricting guaranteed that turnover in the 2002 elections would be higher than at anytime in the last decade. The number of legislators forced to either leave or run for other offices included 322 term-limited legislators in 11 states where term limits have taken effect. NCSL election expert Tim Storey says both played a key role in the 2002 elections.

"Redistricting was the key factor in making majorities vulnerable in these states," Storey said. "All of the chambers that switched party control occurred in states where redistricting plans were drawn by a commission or a court. Redistricting and term limits were especially significant in the Missouri House elections."

Turnover

With more than 6,000 of the 7,382 of the nation’s legislative seats at stake on election day, the 2002 election resulted in the highest turnover of seats ever. Twenty-one percent of seats changed hands even before Election Day as legislators were removed by term limits, primary losses, or retirement. In an average year, 18 percent of seats turn over. Final turnover in the 2002 elections is just under 27 percent.

With more than 200 ballot measures, voters across America took action on several key policy issues, including taxes, education, health care and the initiative process itself. Education was the big winner in the 2002 election, and most of the country's 24 education-related measures received voter approval. Election reform results are mixed. Voters decided against a tax cut on food and medicine in Arkansas and a repeal of the personal income tax in Massachusetts. In Washington, a measure cutting car license fees passed. The initiative process itself will be different in three states, thanks to successful ballot measures. Ballot measure results are available on the NCSL Web site, www.ncsl.org.

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