2010 United States state legislative elections

The 2010 United States state legislative elections were held on November 2, 2010, halfway through President Barack Obama's first term in office. Elections were held for 88 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Kansas and New Mexico held elections for their lower, but not upper houses. Four territorial chambers in three territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.

Republicans scored record gains, gaining at least 680 total seats and taking control of 20 legislative chambers through election, while the Democrats lost 21 chambers. The winners of this election cycle were slated to serve in their respective legislatures for either two or four-year terms, depending on state election rules.

Republicans made substantial gains in state legislatures across the nation. Twenty chambers flipped from Democratic to Republican control, giving Republicans full control of eleven state legislatures and control of one chamber in Colorado, Iowa, and New York. Additionally, Republicans gained enough seats in the Oregon House of Representatives to produce a 30-30 party split, pushing Democrats into a power-sharing agreement that resulted in the election of two "co-speakers" (one from each party) to lead the chamber. Republicans gained a total of 680 seats in state legislative races, breaking the previous record of 628 flipped seats set by Democrats in the post-Watergate elections of 1974.

Six states saw both chambers switch from Democrat to Republican majorities: Alabama (where the Republicans won a majority and a trifecta for the first time since 1874), Maine (for the first time since 1964), Minnesota (for the first time since 1915 in partisan elections and 1973 in non-partisan elections), New Hampshire, North Carolina (for the first time since 1896), and Wisconsin. In addition, by picking up the lower chambers in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Montana and Pennsylvania, Republicans gained control of both chambers in an additional five states. Further, Republicans picked up one chamber from Democrats in Colorado, Iowa, and New York to split control in those states. They expanded majorities in both chambers in Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The Republican victories in legislative races gave the party unprecedented power over the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts following the 2010 census.

Summary table
Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 88 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States; nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections were held for 6,064 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Most legislative chambers held elections for all seats, but some legislative chambers that use staggered elections held elections for only a portion of the total seats in the chamber. The chambers that were 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 took place concurrently with these regularly-scheduled elections.

Electoral predictions
Analysts predicted a very strong showing for the Republicans, anticipating a nationwide wave election in their favor. This was attributed to the nation's slow recovery from the Great Recession, the chaotic passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, immigration, and the large number of legislative chambers and governorships that Democrats controlled after the 2006 and 2008 elections. As the campaign progressed, Democratic prospects only became worse, leading to the largest gap in legislative chambers held by each party considered vulnerable in over a decade. By election day, Republicans were expected to be able to flip between eleven and twenty seven legislative chambers from Democrats, with only one Republican-held chamber considered vulnerable.

Ratings are designated as follows:


 * " Tossup ": Competitive, no advantage
 * " Lean ": Competitive, slight advantage
 * " Likely ": Not competitive, but opposition could make significant gains
 * " Safe ": Not competitive at all

Alabama
All of the seats of the Alabama Legislature were up for election. Republicans won control of both state legislative chambers.

Alaska
All of the seats of the Alaska House of Representatives and half of the Alaska Senate were up for election. The Democratic-led coalition maintained control of the Senate while Republicans maintained control of the House.

Arizona
All of the seats of the Arizona Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Arkansas
All of the seats of the Arkansas House of Representatives and half of the Arkansas Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

California
All of the seats of the California House of Representatives and half of the California Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Colorado
All of the seats of the Colorado House of Representatives and half of the Colorado Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House and Democrats maintained control of the Senate.

Connecticut
All of the seats of the Connecticut Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Delaware
All of the seats of the Delaware House of Representatives and half of the Delaware Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Florida
All of the seats of the Florida House of Representatives and half of the Florida Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Georgia
All of the seats of the Georgia Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Hawaii
All of the seats of the Hawaii House of Representatives and half of the Hawaii Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Idaho
All of the seats of the Idaho Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Illinois
All of the seats of the Illinois House of Representatives and 2/3rds of the Illinois Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Indiana
All of the seats of the Indiana House of Representatives and half of the Indiana Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and won control of the House of Representatives.

Iowa
All of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives and half of the Iowa Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and Democrats maintained control of the Senate.

Kansas
All of the seats of the Kansas House of Representatives. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Kentucky
All of the seats of the Kentucky House of Representatives and half of the Kentucky Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and Democrats maintained control of the House of Representatives.

Maine
All of the seats of the Maine Legislature were up for election. Republicans won control of both legislative chambers.

Maryland
All of the seats of the Maryland Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Massachusetts
All of the seats of the Massachusetts Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Michigan
All of the seats of the Michigan Legislature were up for election. Republicans won control of the House and maintained control of the Senate.

Minnesota
All of the seats of the Minnesota Legislature were up. Republicans won control of both chambers.

Missouri
All of the seats of the Missouri House of Representatives and half of the Missouri Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Montana
All of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives and half of the Montana Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House and maintained control of the Senate.

Nebraska
Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature; half of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature were up for election in 2014. 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. Republicans maintained control.

Nevada
All of the seats of the Nevada House of Representatives and half of the Nevada Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

New Hampshire
All of the seats of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of both legislative chambers.

New Mexico
All of the seats of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Democrats maintained control of the chamber.

New York
All of the seats of the New York Legislature were up for election. Republicans won control of the Senate, and Democrats maintained control of the Assembly.

North Carolina
All of the seats of the North Carolina House of Representatives and half of the North Carolina Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of both state legislative chambers.

North Dakota
All of the seats of the North Dakota House of Representatives and half of the North Dakota Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Ohio
All of the seats of the Ohio House of Representatives and half of the Ohio Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and maintained control of the Senate.

Oklahoma
All of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and half of the Oklahoma Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Oregon
All of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives and half of the Oregon Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of the Senate, and the House of Representatives became tied.

Pennsylvania
All of the seats of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and half of the Pennsylvania Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate and won control of the House of Representatives.

Rhode Island
All of the seats of the Rhode Island Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

South Carolina
All of the seats of the South Carolina House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

South Dakota
All of the seats of the South Dakota Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Tennessee
All of the seats of the Tennessee House of Representatives and half of the Tennessee Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Texas
All of the seats of the Texas House of Representatives and half of the Texas Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Utah
All of the seats of the Utah House of Representatives and half of the Utah Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Vermont
All of the seats of the Vermont Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Washington
All of the seats of the Washington House of Representatives and half of the Washington Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both legislative chambers.

West Virginia
All of the seats of the West Virginia House of Delegates and half of the West Virginia Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

Wisconsin
All of the seats of the Wisconsin Assembly and half of the Wisconsin Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of both state legislative chambers.

Wyoming
All of the seats of the Wyoming House of Representatives and half of the Wyoming Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both state legislative chambers.

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