The 2002 United States state legislative elections were held on November 5, 2002, halfway through President George W. Bush's first term in office. This was a unique election in which the incumbent Republican party performed surprisingly well for a midterm election. Elections were held for 91 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Three territorial chambers in two territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.
Republicans flipped control of six chambers: the Colorado Senate, the Georgia Senate for the first time since 1873, the Missouri House of Representatives for the first time since 1955, the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since 1873, the Washington Senate, and the Wisconsin Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats flipped control of the Illinois Senate. Additionally, the Arizona Senate went from a coalition government to Republican control. The Maine Senate went from an evenly divided power-sharing government to a Democratic one, while the Oregon Senate went from Republican to tied.
Republicans had initially won control of the North Carolina House of Representatives by one seat, but Republican Michael P. Decker switched parties to become a Democrat, producing a tied chamber.
Republicans won a trifecta in Texas for the first time since 1873, and in Missouri for the first time since 1923. As a result, Republicans held a majority of state legislative seats for the first time in half a century.
Summary table
Regularly scheduled elections were held in 91 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 6,381 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Many 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 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 midterm election years.
Note that this table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.
Electoral 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
Maps
State summaries
Alabama
All of the seats of the Alabama House of Representatives and half of the Alabama Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained 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. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
Arizona
All of the seats of the Arizona Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the House and gained control of the Senate.
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 Senate and maintained control of the House
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 the Senate while Republicans maintained control of the House.
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 gained control of the Senate due to post-election party switching, while Democrats maintained control of the House.
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 the House and won control of the Senate.
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 while Democrats maintained 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 maintained control of both legislative chambers.
Kansas
All of the seats of the Kansas House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans maintained control.
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. Democrats maintained control of the House and won control of the Senate.
Maryland
All of the seats of the Maryland General Assembly 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 maintained control of both chambers.
Minnesota
All of the seats of the Minnesota Legislature were up. Republicans maintained control the House while Democrats maintained control of the Senate.
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 the Senate and won control of the House.
Montana
All of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives and half of the Montana Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
Nebraska
Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature; half of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature were up for election. 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 the House while Republicans maintained control of the Senate.
New Hampshire
All of the seats of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
New Mexico
All of the seats of the New Mexico House of Representatives were up for election; Democrats maintained control.
New York
All of the seats of the New York Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the Senate while 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. Democrats maintained control of the Senate. Republicans had won control of the House until a post-election party switch tied control of the chamber.
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 maintained control of both chambers.
Oklahoma
All of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and half of the Oklahoma Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
Oregon
All of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives and half of the Oregon Senate were up for election. The Senate became split while Republicans maintained control of the House.
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 both chambers.
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 the House.
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. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
Texas
All of the seats of the Texas Legislature were up for election. Aided by favorable redistricting, Republicans greatly expanded their majority in the Texas Senate and won control of the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction.
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 the Senate while Republicans maintained control of the Senate.
Washington
All of the seats of the Washington House of Representatives and half of the Washington Senate were up for election. Republicans won control of the Senate while Democrats maintained control of the House.
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 maintained control of the Assembly and won control of the House.
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.
Territorial and federal district summaries
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.
Guam
All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of Guam were up for election. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term. Republicans retained control of the legislature.
Washington, D.C.
The Council of the District of Columbia serves as the legislative branch of the federal district of Washington, D.C. Half of the council seats are up for election. Council members serve four-year terms. Democrats retained supermajority control of the council.
Notes
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