2003 United States state legislative elections

For related races, see 2003 United States elections.

2003 United States state legislative elections

←  2002 November 7, 2003 2004  →
8 legislative chambers in 4 states
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Chambers before 53 [a] 43 [a] Chambers after 53 [b] 44 [b] Overall change 1
Map of upper house elections:      Democrats gained control     Democrats retained control      Republicans retained control      No regularly-scheduled elections
Map of lower house elections:      Democrats retained control      Republicans retained control      No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2003 United States state legislative elections were held on November 7, 2003, alongside other elections. Elections were held for 8 legislative chambers. ^[1] Both chambers of the Northern Mariana Islands legislature was up.

Partisan change only occurred in one chamber, as Democrats won control of the New Jersey Senate, which was previously tied. ^[2] However, Democrats did maintain control of the Mississippi Legislature, the Louisiana Legislature, and the New Jersey General Assembly. Republicans maintained control of the Virginia legislature, bringing a post-Civil War low for the Democratic Party. ^[3]

Summary table

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 8 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 578 of the 7,383 legislative seats. This table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.

State	Upper House				Lower House
	Seats up	Total	% up	Term	Seats up	Total	% up	Term
Louisiana	39	39	100	4	105	105	100	4
Mississippi	52	52	100	4	122	122	100	4
New Jersey	40	40	100	2/4 [c]	80	80	100	2
Virginia	40	40	100	4	100	100	100	2

Election predictions

Ratings are designated as follows:

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

State	Chamber	Last election	The Cook Political Report Oct. 4, 2002 [4]	Result
Louisiana	Senate	D 26–13	Likely D	D 24–15
	House of Representatives	D 74–31	Solid D	D 66–37–2
Mississippi	Senate	D 34–18	Solid D	D 29–23
	House of Representatives	D 86–33–3	Solid D	D 76-46
New Jersey	Senate	20–20	Tossup	D 22–18
	General Assembly	D 44–36	Lean D	D 47-33
Virginia	Senate	R 21–19	Lean R	R 24-16
	House of Delegates	R 64–34–2	Solid R	R 61–37–2

State summaries

Louisiana

Main articles: 2003 Louisiana Senate election and 2003 Louisiana House of Representatives election

All seats of the Louisiana State Senate and the Louisiana House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in single-member districts. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.

Louisiana State Senate

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	26	24	2
	Republican	13	15	2
Total		39	39

Louisiana House of Representatives

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	74	66	8
	Republican	31	37	6
	Independent	0	2	2
Total		105	105

Mississippi

Main articles: 2003 Mississippi Senate election and 2003 Mississippi House of Representatives election

All seats of the Mississippi State Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives were up for election to four-year terms in single-member districts. Democrats maintained control of both houses.

Mississippi State Senate

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	29	29
	Republican	23	23
Total		52	52

Mississippi House of Representatives

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	81	76	5
	Republican	38	46	8
	Independent	3	0	3
Total		122	122

New Jersey

Main articles: 2003 New Jersey Senate election and 2003 New Jersey General Assembly election

All seats of the New Jersey Senate and the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election. In 2007, senators were elected to two-year terms in single-member districts, while Assembly members were elected to two-year terms in two-member districts. ^[5] Democrats retained control in of the lower house and won control of the upper house.

Senate

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	20	22	2
	Republican	20	18	2
Total		40	40

General Assembly

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	42	47	5
	Republican	37	33	4
	Green	1	0	1
Total		80	80

Virginia

Main articles: 2003 Virginia Senate election and 2003 Virginia House of Delegates election

All seats of the Senate of Virginia and the Virginia House of Delegates were up for election in single-member districts. Senators were elected to four-year terms, while delegates served terms of two years. Republicans maintained control of both houses.

Senate of Virginia

Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	19	16	3
	Republican	21	24	3
Total		40	40

Virginia House of Delegates

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	64	61	3
	Democratic	34	37	3
	Independent	2	2
Total		100	100

Territorial and federal district summaries

Northern Mariana Islands

All seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and half of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate are up for election. Senators are elected to four-year terms and Representatives are elected to two-year terms.

Senate

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	5	2	3
	Democratic	3	2	1
Total		10	10

House of Representatives

Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	16	7	9
	Democratic	1	1
Total		18	18

Notes

1. The Oregon Senate, North Carolina House of Representatives, and New Jersey Senate were tied prior to the election. Thus, they are not included in this total.
2. The Oregon Senate and North Carolina House of Representatives were tied prior to the election. Thus, they are not included in this total.
3. The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.

References

1. https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_elections,_2003
2. "Official List, Candidate Returns for State Senate for November 2003 General Election" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
3. University of Virginia, Center for Politics. Virginia Votes 2003: Not much to remember, not much to forget. Archived 2015-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
4. Jacobson, Louis (October 4, 2002). "2002 State Legislature Ratings" . The Cook Political Report : 149–150. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020 – via Harvard Dataverse.
5. "New Jersey Secretary of State". state.nj.us.