2026 United States state legislative elections

Background

The 2026 state legislative elections will be held as part of the midterm elections during the second presidency of Donald Trump. Republicans had seen very modest coattails in the 2024 legislative elections, flipping a net of just over 50 seats from the Democrats and breaking Democratic trifectas in two states, but establishing no new trifectas of their own. Democrats performed very well in the 2025 elections, making substantial gains in Virginia and New Jersey and performing very well in special elections. Entering 2026, Republicans fully control 23 state governments, Democrats control 16, with 11 states under split control.

Republicans have controlled a sizeable majority of state legislative chambers across the country since the 2010 elections, giving them substantial clout over a number of policy issues, particularly redistricting prior to the 2010 redistricting cycle. Democrats have slowly made gains in chamber control since Donald Trump's first term began, particularly in 2018 and 2022, but the Republican advantage has persisted.

Party switching

Eight incumbent state legislators have switched political parties during 2026.

Issues

State legislative elections have taken on increased prominence in the eyes of national political parties due to the ongoing mid-decade congressional redistricting frenzy taking place across the country, especially in the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais decision, which allowed several Republican-led states in the South to eliminate majority-Black congressional districts. With Republicans gaining a clear advantage for the 2026 elections, Democrats have turned their focus to state legislatures in key states with hopes of regaining the redistricting advantage for the 2028 elections. Affordability and the proliferation of AI data centers have also emerged as key issues in several states.

Campaign

To build momentum for the broader national elections, Democrats have recruited substantially more candidates to run for state legislative offices than in previous cycles. This includes contesting every seat in Texas, South Carolina, and Maryland, and breaking decades-old recruitment highs in states such as Georgia, Indiana, and North Carolina. This has led to a drop in the number of uncontested legislative seats compared to previous years. Only 33% of state legislative seats have one candidate running in the general election, the lowest since 2018, and only 20% of incumbents are running unopposed, far lower than any election cycle since 2010.

Democrats are heavily targeting control of the Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin legislatures, while seeking to gain supermajorities in Oregon and Washington while breaking Republican supermajorites in the Iowa House, Nebraska Legislature, and North Carolina Senate. National Democratic groups have raised over $100 million to support legislative Democrats across the country, matching what national Republicans raised for the 2024 elections.

Several states had highly contentious primary elections which shifted power in chambers already safely held by one party. In the Indiana Senate, where a majority of the chamber's Republicans rebuked Donald Trump's mid-decade redistricting push as a part of his broader attempts to maintain Republican control of congress after the midterms, six of the defiant members lost renomination, while another two retired. In New York, six new candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America won primaries across both chambers, nearly doubling the size of the party's caucus. The DSA made gains across the country, winning over 60 Democratic primaries, although their direct influence is expected to be low, representing fewer than 1% of legislative seats nationwide. Two legislative leaders have also been defeated. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams lost in a race dominated by a contentious planned AI data center, while North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger narrowly lost his primary as well.

Summary tables

States

Regularly scheduled elections will be held in 88 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections will be held for 6,064 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Most legislative chambers will hold elections for all seats, but some legislative chambers that use staggered elections hold elections for only a portion of the total seats in the chamber. The chambers that are not up for election either hold regularly scheduled elections in odd-numbered years, or have four-year terms and hold all regularly scheduled elections in presidential election years.

Note that this table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections will likely take place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.

Territories

Regularly scheduled elections will be held in 6 of the 9 territorial legislative chambers in the United States, for 84 of the 192 territorial legislative seats; the territory of Puerto Rico does not hold legislative elections in mid-term years, as does the American Samoa Senate.

Electoral 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.

Early predictions saw a slightly more competitive state legislative landscape than at this point in previous election cycles, with most of the competitive being Republican-held. Democrats hope to capitalize on a potential wave election to win control of these chambers and break Republican supermajorities in others. By the fall, a number of chambers shifted towards the Democrats as their national standings and polling improved, particularly in the Midwest, where Republicans control a number of competitive chambers in swing states. Sabato's Crystal Ball forecasts mild Democratic gains, while State Navigate is much more bullish, anticipating Democrats flipping over 400 legislative seats across the country.

Ratings are designated as follows:

"Tossup": No advantage

"Tilt": Advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"

"Lean": Slight advantage

"Likely": Significant, but surmountable, advantage

"Safe": Near-certain chance of victory

State summaries

Alabama

All of the seats of the Alabama Legislature are up for election. Both chambers have been controlled by the Republican Party since 2011. The Senate election originally would have taken place under slightly different maps from the 2022 election after a federal judge overturned two Montgomery-area districts over vote dilution concerns, creating an additional majority-Black district there. This decision was stayed after the Louisiana v. Callais Supreme Court decision, which significantly weakened the part of the Voting Rights Act that was used to justify the original decision, returning the elections to the original maps.

Alaska

Half of the seats of the Alaska Senate and all of the seats of the Alaska House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Both houses are controlled by coalitions of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

Arizona

All of the seats of the Arizona Legislature are up for election.

Arkansas

All of the seats of the Arkansas House of Representatives are up for election. 17 of the 35 seats in the Arkansas Senate are up for election.

California

All of the seats of the California State Assembly are up for election. 20 of the 40 seats in the California Senate are up for election.

Colorado

Half of the seats of the Colorado Senate and all of the seats of the Colorado House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Connecticut

All of the seats of the Connecticut State Senate and the Connecticut House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Delaware

Half of the seats of the Delaware State Senate and all of the Delaware House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Florida

All of the seats of the Florida House of Representatives are up for election. 20 of the 40 seats in the Florida Senate are up for election.

Georgia

All of the seats of the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Hawaii

Half of the seats of the Hawaii Senate and all of the seats of the Hawaii House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Idaho

All of the seats of the Idaho Senate and the Idaho House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers. In the primary election, moderate Republicans made gains over the more hardline wing of the party, which had been gaining ground in recent election cycles.

Illinois

Two thirds of the seats of the Illinois Senate and all of the seats of the Illinois House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Indiana

Half of the seats of the Indiana Senate and all of the seats of the Indiana House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers. Republican President Donald Trump, governor Mike Braun, and other conservative groups, have threatened primary challenges against several members of the Indiana Senate for voting against a proposed congressional redistricting.

Iowa

Half of the seats of the Iowa Senate and all of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Kansas

All of the seats of the Kansas House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control this chamber.

Kentucky

Half of the seats of the Kentucky Senate and all of the seats of the Kentucky House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Maine

All of the seats of the Maine Senate and the Maine House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Maryland

All of the seats of the Maryland General Assembly are up for election.

Massachusetts

All of the seats of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Michigan

All of the seats of the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control the senate, while Republicans control the house.

Minnesota

All of the seats of the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democratic–Farmer–Laborites currently control the Senate, while the House is tied and controlled under a power-sharing agreement by both parties. Both of these compositions remained unchanged through a string of special elections held throughout 2025 and early 2026, including one caused by the assassination of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

Missouri

Half of the seats of the Missouri Senate and all of the seats of the Missouri House of Representatives were up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Montana

Half of the seats of the Montana Senate and all of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. In response to a loose coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, the Montana Republican Party censured nine of its members, withholding electoral support from them. Five of those Republicans are up for election in 2026.

Nebraska

Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature; half of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature are up for election in 2026. Nebraska is also unique in that its legislature is officially non-partisan and holds non-partisan elections, although the Democratic and Republican parties each endorse legislative candidates.

Nevada

Half of the seats of the Nevada Senate and all of the seats of the Nevada Assembly are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

New Hampshire

All of the seats of the New Hampshire Senate and the New Hampshire House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

New Mexico

All of the seats of the New Mexico House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control this chamber.

New York

All of the seats of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

North Carolina

All of the seats of the North Carolina Senate and the North Carolina House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

North Dakota

Half of the seats of the North Dakota Senate and the North Dakota House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Ohio

All of the seats of the Ohio House of Representatives are up for election. 16 of the 33 seats in the Ohio Senate are up for election

Oklahoma

Half of the seats of the Oklahoma Senate and all of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers. The far-right Republican Freedom Caucus had sought to take control of the legislature, but it lost significant ground in the state's primary and runoff elections.

Oregon

Half of the seats of the Oregon State Senate and all of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Pennsylvania

Half of the seats of the Pennsylvania State Senate and all of the seats of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control the upper chamber while Democrats control the lower chamber.

Rhode Island

All of the seats of the Rhode Island Senate and the Rhode Island House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

South Carolina

All of the seats of the South Carolina House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control this chamber.

South Dakota

All of the seats of the South Dakota Senate and the South Dakota House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Tennessee

Half of the seats of the Tennessee Senate and all of the seats of the Tennessee House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Texas

Half of the seats of the Texas Senate and all of the seats of the Texas House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Utah

Half of the seats of the Utah State Senate and all of the seats of the Utah House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Vermont

All of the seats of the Vermont Senate and the Vermont House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

Washington

Half of the seats of the Washington State Senate and all of the seats of the Washington House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Democrats currently control both chambers.

West Virginia

Half of the seats of the West Virginia Senate and all of the seats of the West Virginia House of Delegates are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers.

Wisconsin

Half of the seats of the Wisconsin Senate and all of the seats of the Wisconsin State Assembly are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers, but Democrats seek to capitalize by the gains they made in 2024 after court-ordered redistricting gave them more favorable maps to run on to try to win control of the legislature for the first time since 2008.

Wyoming

Half of the seats of the Wyoming Senate and all of the seats of the Wyoming House of Representatives are up for election in 2026. Republicans currently control both chambers. The state's far-right Republican Freedom Caucus, which had won a majority of the House in 2024, sought to take full legislative control by winning a majority in the Senate, but they lost most of their House seats and a number of Senate seats in the primary elections, instead.

Territorial and federal district summaries

American Samoa

All of the seats of the American Samoa House of Representatives were up for election. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms. Gubernatorial and legislative elections are conducted on a nonpartisan basis in American Samoa.

District of Columbia

The Council of the District of Columbia serves as the legislative branch of the federal district of Washington, D.C. Half of the council seats were up for election in 2026. Council members serve four-year terms. The Democratic Party maintained their supermajority.

Guam

All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of Guam were up for election in 2026; Republicans maintained controlled this chamber.

Northern Mariana Islands

A portion of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, and all of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, were up for election in 2026. Prior to the election, a coalition of Republicans and Independents controlled the senate, while a coalition of Democrats and Independents controlled the house. After the elections, Republicans gained control of the Senate while independents won a supermajority in the House of Representatives.

U.S. Virgin Islands

All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of the Virgin Islands were up for election in 2026. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term. The Democratic Party maintained control of the chamber.

Special elections

There are currently 88 state legislative special elections scheduled for 2026. More than half of all states have procedures for special state legislative elections. Democrats have performed especially well in special elections, outperforming Kamala Harris' 2024 performance by an average of 10 percentage points and flipping six seats across the country. Many of the seats Democrats have flipped came from districts which voted strongly for Donald Trump in 2024, and the party's consistent overperformances indicate a wide enthusiasm gap between Democratic and Republican voters. They also, however, signal a shift in the electorate's educational gap, with highly educated voters, who are more likely to vote in special elections, voting for Democrats more often than in previous decades.

Several of these special elections have decided control of their respective legislative chambers, although none have resulted in a shift in power. Democrats maintained control of the Michigan Senate, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and Virginia Senate while maintaining the even split in the Minnesota House of Representatives.