The Nov. 5 election reduced the number of states where one party has a trifecta—controlling both legislative chambers as well as the governor’s seat—and added two where neither party will dominate, NCSL elections experts say.
“It’s looking like there’s going to be more bipartisan governance,” Ben Williams, associate director of NCSL’s Elections and Redistricting Program, told an NCSL Town Hall. He says while most bills that legislatures pass already have either unanimous or at least bipartisan support, “There will be more formal bipartisanship at the state level at this time.”
Despite the changes, Republicans retain their trifectas in 22 states, down from 23, whereas Democrats now control 14 states, down from 17. Fewer single-party states means more states where negotiation will be required.
Williams says while counting continues in some close races, “It looks like there have been five losses of veto-proof majorities: Montana, New York, North Carolina and Vermont have all lost them, as well as the territory of Guam. It looks like we might have two pickups for veto-proofs in South Carolina and Iowa.”
This election also broke Democratic trifectas in Minnesota and Michigan, at least temporarily, he says. The Michigan and Minnesota Houses flipped to the Democrats in 2022, but voters returned the Michigan House to Republican control, and the Minnesota House is now tied, with at least one recount coming later this month.
Williams says neither party will hold a majority in Alaska, a state that tends to create governing coalitions; legislators in both chambers already are forming coalitions to take charge when the session starts in next year. Maine’s House looks likely to have a coalition, too, though results are slower there because of narrow margins in several races. Recounts are coming later this month in several districts. Going into the election, Democrats controlled the chamber; now it looks like no party will have a majority.
“It’s not looking like it was a dramatic increase in the number of legislators for the Republican party this year,” Williams says. “It’s more of a couple pickups here, a couple pickups there aggregated across the country against a few states where Democrats had made gains.” Republicans have held more seats, and controlled more chambers, since 2010. And women retained control of the statehouse in Nevada, the first state with a female majority, Williams says, while New Mexico made history with its first female-majority legislature.
Ballot Measures
There were 11 ballot measures on abortion across the states, including in Nebraska, which had competing measures for the first time in history, says Helen Brewer, a policy specialist in NCSL’s Elections and Redistricting Program.
“Nebraska voters passed a measure that prohibits abortion after the first trimester. The other measure, which did not win the day, would have established a right to abortion pre-viability in the state constitution,” Brewer says.
Voters in most states approved ballot measures to protect abortion rights, although South Dakota and Florida rejected enshrining the right in their constitutions, Brewer says, noting that in Florida a majority favored the measure but couldn’t meet the 60% threshold required to amend the constitution.
Several states and Washington, D.C., considered ranked choice voting, with Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon rejecting it (and Missouri prohibiting its use) and the district approving it. In ranked choice voting, voters select candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins 50% of the first-round votes, whoever receives the lowest number of votes is eliminated and another round of vote tallying begins. In the second round, ballots with the eliminated candidate as the first choice are tallied with the second-choice candidate. The process repeats itself until a winner emerges.
Brewer says that Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota all had measures seeking to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
“Of course, that’s been a common use of ballot measures in the last 14 or so years,” Brewer says. “In all three of those states, the measures failed.” Brewer notes Nebraska passed a pair of measures to legalize medical uses of marijuana and to set up a new state agency to regulate the industry.
NCSL will continue to update results on its election page. And Brewer reminds newly elected lawmakers that NCSL provides a wealth of information about the work of other states regarding elections and many other issues.
“I encourage folks, legislators, legislative staff, to send us an email with any policy topics or research questions you’re curious about,” she says. “And that goes for the topics we cover here on elections, but also any other policy topics.”
Kelley Griffin is the host and producer of NCSL’s “Across the Aisle” podcast.