2015 United States state legislative elections

For related races, see 2015 United States elections.

2015 United States state legislative elections

←  2014 November 3, 2015 2016  →
7 legislative chambers 4 states
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Republican Democratic Coalition Chambers before 68 30 1 [a] Chambers after 68 30 1 [a] Overall change
Map of upper house elections:      Republicans retained control      No regularly-scheduled elections
Map of lower house elections:      Democrats retained control      Republicans retained control      No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2015 United States state legislative elections were held on November 3, 2015. Seven legislative chambers in four states held regularly scheduled elections. These off-year elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in three states. ^[1]

Republicans maintained control of both chambers of the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia legislatures, while Democrats maintained control of the New Jersey General Assembly. This is the last time no state legislative chambers changed partisan control.

Summary table

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 7 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 538 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	0	40	0	2/4 [b]	80	80	100	2
Virginia	40	40	100	4	100	100	100	2

State summaries

Louisiana

Main articles: 2015 Louisiana State Senate election and 2015 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. Republicans retained majority control in both chambers.

Louisiana State Senate

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	John Alario	26	25	1
	Democratic	Eric LaFleur	14	12	1
Total			39	39

Louisiana House of Representatives

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Chuck Kleckley	58	61	3
	Democratic	Gene Reynolds	43	42	1
	Independent		2	2
Total			105	105

Mississippi

Main articles: 2015 Mississippi Senate election and 2015 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. Republicans retained majority control in both chambers.

Mississippi State Senate

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Giles Ward	32	32
	Democratic	Steve Hale	20	20
Total			52	52

Mississippi House of Representatives

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Philip Gunn	67	73	6
	Democratic	Robert Moak	54	49	5
Total			122	122

New Jersey

Main article: 2015 New Jersey General Assembly elections

All seats of the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election to two-year terms in coterminous two-member districts. The New Jersey Senate did not hold regularly scheduled elections. Democrats maintained majority control in the lower house.

New Jersey General Assembly

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Democratic	Vincent Prieto	48	52	4
	Republican	Jon Bramnick	32	28	4
Total			80	80

Virginia

Main articles: 2015 Virginia Senate election and 2015 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 serve terms of two years. Republicans maintained control of both legislative chambers.

Senate of Virginia

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	Tommy Norment	21	21
	Democratic	Dick Saslaw	19	19
Total			40	40

Virginia House of Delegates

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	William J. Howell	67	66	1
	Democratic	David Toscano	33	34	1
Total			100	100

See also

• 2015 United States gubernatorial elections

Notes

1. In the Washington State Senate, one Democrat caucused with Republicans to form the Majority Coalition Caucus
2. The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.

References

1. "State legislative elections, 2015". Ballotpedia . Retrieved December 25, 2022.