Republicans claimed major victories at the federal level on November 8, 2016, winning the presidency and maintaining control of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Real estate investorDonald Trump (R) outperformed most conventional polls and election models to defeat former Secretary of StateHillary Clinton (D). Key to Trump's success werehis Rust Belt wins inOhio,Pennsylvania, andWisconsin, which cut through the blue wall created in the past six presidential elections.

Although Democratspicked up two seats in the U.S. Senate, Republicans retained control of the chamber with a 52-48 majority. Republicans also performed well in theU.S. House, losing only a net six seats to secure a 241-194 majority.

There were 5,923 seats up for election in 86 state legislative chambers. As a result of the election, partisan control flipped in seven chambers and the number of Republicanstate government trifectas increased from 23 to 25 in the 2017 legislative session.

Republicans took new control of gubernatorial offices inMissouri,New Hampshire, andVermont. Democrats won the gubernatorial seat inNorth Carolina.

The November 2016 elections resulted in 31 state government trifectas: 25 Republican and six Democratic.^[1]

Ballot efforts to increase the minimum wage and legalize medical and recreational marijuana were successful in several states, while electors in all three states featuring death penalty-related measures voted in favor of the death penalty and against efforts to repeal it.

In total, Ballotpedia tracked more than 160 ballot measures and 15,000 candidates in thousands of different races. For links to all election results,click here.

The following spreadsheet compiles data on election results for a variety of federal, state, and local races held on November 8, 2016:

For further election analysis, see:Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2016

Presidency

See also:Presidential election, 2016 andPresidential battleground states, 2016

Donald Trump (R) won the general election, defeating former Secretary of StateHillary Clinton (D), former Gov.Gary Johnson (L), andJill Stein (L).

Ballotpedia identified the12 states and two congressional districts that decided the outcome of the presidential election:

In 2012, incumbent Obama defeated former Gov.Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), winning 26 states and Washington, D.C., to secure 332 electoral votes and 51.1 percent of the popular vote.

U.S. Senate

See also:United States Senate elections, 2016 andU.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2016

Elections were held for34 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats in 2016.

Control of the Senate was up for grabs. In order to take the chamber back, Democrats needed to gain five seats in 2016, but they fell short, picking up only two seats. Although the majority ofseats up for election were held by Republican incumbents, many of whom were freshmen who were swept into office in the Tea Party wave of 2010, they proved to be far less vulnerable than predicted.

Ballotpedia predicted that only nine of these races would be competitive in the general election:

U.S. House

See also:United States House of Representatives elections, 2016 andU.S. House battlegrounds, 2016

All435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election.

Despite losing several seats in the chamber, the Republican Party had a strong night in the House. Republicans preserved their majority and only lost a net six seats, resulting in a 241-194 majority.

Ballotpedia identified the23 most competitive House races:

State executive offices

Governors

See also:Gubernatorial elections, 2016

Twelve states held gubernatorial elections:

As a result of the election, Republicans took new control of gubernatorial offices inMissouri,New Hampshire, andVermont, while retaining their gubernatorial seats inIndiana,North Dakota andUtah. Democrats won the gubernatorial seat inNorth Carolina.

Lieutenant governors

See also:Lieutenant gubernatorial elections, 2016

Nine states held elections for lieutenant governor in 2016, including four states in which the position is elected on ajoint ticket with the governor:Indiana,Montana,North Dakota andUtah. In all four of those states, the party of the winning ticketdetermined thetrifecta status of the state. None of those states experienced a change in partisan control of the governorship or lieutenant governorship. One lieutenant governorship changed party hands in 2016—DemocratBethany Hall-Long won Vermont's seat after incumbentPhillip Scott (R) declined to seek re-election.

The nine states were:

Secretaries of state

See also:Secretary of State elections, 2016

Eight states held elections for secretary of state:

Five of the eight secretary of state seats up for election in 2016 changed hands, with a net gain of three seats for Republicans. The GOP picked up seats in open elections inMissouri,Montana, andOregon, and unseated the incumbent Democrat in West Virginia. The win in Oregon was a significant victory for the party as the state was under Democratic trifecta control going into the election, and the seat had not been held by a Republican since 1980.

Democrats picked up the open seat inNew Mexico, which held a special election after the mid-term resignation of incumbentDianna Duran (R) due to criminal charges. At the time her election in 2010, Duran was the first Republican to win the seat in New Mexico since 1930.

Attorneys general

See also:Attorney General elections, 2016

Ten states held elections for attorney general:

Only one seat changed party hands in 2016—RepublicanJosh Hawley won the open seat inMissouri, which was previously under Democratic control.

State legislatures

See also:State legislative elections, 2016 andState legislative battleground chambers, 2016

On election night,86 of the total 99 state legislative chambers held elections. Across all state legislative chambers, Republicans held control of 68 while Democrats held majorities in 30 chambers. Although technically nonpartisan, theNebraska State Senate is controlled by a Republican majority.^[2]

Ballotpedia identified20 battleground chambers to watch across 13 states:

Chambers that flipped

Seven chambers flipped control after the November 2016 elections.

State	Pre-election party in power	Post-election party in power
Iowa State Senate
Kentucky House of Representatives
Minnesota State Senate
Nevada State Senate
Nevada State Assembly
New Mexico House of Representatives
Alaska House of Representatives[3]

Trifectas

See also:State government trifectas

Prior to the election, there were7Democratic and23Republicanstate government trifectas. A trifecta occurs when one political party holds these three positions in a state's government:

• Thegovernorship
• A majority in thestate senate
• A majority in thestate house

Heading into the 2016 elections, Republicans hadtrifecta control of state government in four of the 12 states holding gubernatorial elections:Indiana,North Carolina,North Dakota, andUtah. Democrats had trifecta control in three states:Delaware,Vermont, andOregon.

As a result of the November 2016 elections, there were 31 state government trifectas going into the 2017 state legislative sessions.

• 25Republican
• 6Democratic^[4]

State courts

See also:State supreme court elections, 2016

Thirty-two (32) states held supreme court elections for 76 seats in 2016. The exact number of seats up for election in each state changed over the course of the year, as new judges were appointed and filing deadlines passed.

In 2016:

• Three states heldpartisan elections for 11 seats.
• Sixteen states heldnonpartisan elections for 32 seats.
• Twelve states heldretention elections for 31 seats.
• One state (N.M.) held both aretention election and apartisan election for two seats.

Mayors

See also:United States municipal elections, 2016

There were25 mayorships up for election in 2016:

Of the mayors who were serving in those offices, 12 were Republican, 11 were Democratic, one was nonpartisan, and one was of unknown affiliation. These positions accounted for 44.4 percent of all Republican mayors, 16.4 percent of Democratic mayors, 33.3 percent of nonpartisan mayors, and 33.3 percent of unknown mayors in America's 100 largest cities.

Footnotes

See also

• Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2016
• Elections
• Election results:2015 •2014 •2013 •2012 •2011 •2010
• Elections by state and year
• State Poll Opening and Closing Times