State house elections, 2010
| State house elections |
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| Parties with candidates |
| Impact of term limits |
| Successful challengers |
| Defeated incumbents |
| State house elections |
| State senate elections |
| State legislative elections |
Forty-five state lower houses held general elections for state representatives onNovember 2, 2010. This is in addition to the43 state senates that held general elections in November.
There are 49 state houses (Nebraska doesn't have one). The 4 state houses that aren't holding a general election for state representatives in November 2010 areLouisiana,Mississippi,New Jersey andVirginia.
Battle for majority control
| Partisan dominance instate houses heading into the2010 state legislative elections |
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- See also:Partisan composition of state houses
The 2010 elections for state representatives, looked at from a national level, are a battle for partisan dominance: After the ballots have been cast in November, which party will be the majority party in the most states?
Going into November, the Democratic Party held a commanding lead in the country's state houses, holding majority control in 31 states. Republicans hold the majority in 17 states, with one state (Montana) having an absolutely equal partisan divide.
In the four states with no state house elections in 2010, partisan control is split evenly.
In the 45 states with a general election in 2010, partisan control is as follows:
- State houses with a 2010 general election controlled by a Democratic majority:29
- State houses with a 2010 general election controlled by a Republican majority:15
- State houses with a 2010 general election that are split evenly:1
If the Republican Party were to pick up 7 states in the November 2010 elections, they'd have majority control in 24 state houses and the Democratic Party would have majority in 24 state houses.
According to Tim Storey, an elections analyst for theNational Conference of State Legislatures, when it comes to 2010's state legislative elections, "This is going to be an extremely challenging year for Democrats for a variety of reasons...History is not on their side. Since 1900, the party in the White House loses seats in the legislature in every midterm except for 1934 and 2002. That's a 2-25 losing streak for the party in the White House -- a tough trend to break. Add to that the fact that Democrats are riding high right now at over 55 percent of all seats, and it shapes up to be possibly the worst election for Democrats since 1994."[1]
