2023 United States state legislative elections

The 2022 elections, midterm elections held under the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, defied conventional expectations. Although Republicans had gained more legislative seats across the country than Democrats, they had lost control of several state legislative chambers. Republican gains were more concentrated in chambers they already controlled, while Democrats made more gains in states they controlled, as well as in battleground states where independent or court-ordered redistricting had dismantled the Republican-tilted maps of the 2010s. This enhanced Democratic policymaking power at the state level despite Republican victories at the federal level. Among the states holding regularly-scheduled legislative elections in 2023, Republicans had fully controlled the Mississippi and Louisiana legislatures since 2011, while Democrats had controlled the New Jersey Legislature since 2003. Virginia had a divided government after Republicans won control of the House of Delegates in 2021. Party switching Republicans gained significant clout in two state legislatures prior to the election due to party switching by incumbent legislators. In both Louisiana and North Carolina, party-switching Democrats gave Republicans supermajorities in each state's House of Representatives which, combined with Republicans' existing supermajorities in each state's Senate, gave the party the ability to override vetoes of each state's Democratic governors. == Summary table ==

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 8 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were or are to be held for 578 of the 7,383 legislative seats. This table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections may take place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections. == Election predictions ==

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive chambers. These predictions look at factors such as the strength of the party, the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assign ratings to each chambers, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that election. Most election predictors use: • "Tossup": No advantage • "Tilt": Advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean" • "Lean": Slight advantage • "Likely": Significant, but surmountable, advantage • "Safe" or "Solid": Near-certain chance of victory == National results ==

Despite Republican hopes of major gains, potentially winning full control of Virginia's state government and weakening Democrats' majorities in New Jersey, these gains did not materialize. Instead, Democrats made considerable gains in both states' lower houses, flipping control of the Virginia House of Delegates, which they had lost in 2021. Republicans did gain ground in Louisiana and Mississippi, however, as both states held their first elections since the 2020 redistricting cycle. Rampant gerrymandering, political polarization, and a high number of uncontested races led to minimal competition. Neither state featured a single legislative race won by less than 10 percentage points. == State summaries ==

Louisiana All seats of the Louisiana State Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in 2023. Republicans retained control of both chambers. Mississippi All seats of the Mississippi State Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in 2023. Republicans retained control of both chambers. New Jersey All seats of the New Jersey Senate and the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election. In 2023, senators were elected to four-year terms in single-member districts, while Assembly members were elected to two-year terms in two-member districts. Democrats retained control in both chambers, expanding their majority in the General Assembly. Virginia All seats of the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates were up for election in 2023. Senators were elected to four-year terms, while delegates serve terms of two years. At the time of the elections, the Democrats controlled the Senate while the Republicans controlled the House of Delegates. Following the elections, the Democrats flipped control of the House of Delegates and held on to the Senate with a reduced majority. ==Special elections==

There were fifty-one state legislative special elections scheduled for 2023. The Democratic Party flipped a seat in the Virginia Senate on January 10 and a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives on September 19. The Republican Party flipped a seat in the Maine House of Representatives on June 13 and a seat in the Massachusetts Senate on November 7. Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Maine Massachusetts Minnesota Mississippi New Hampshire New York Oklahoma Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Virginia Wisconsin == Recall elections ==