Map of upper house elections: Democrats gained control Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Split body formed Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections
Map of lower house elections: Democrats gained control Democrats retained control Republicans gained control Republicans retained control Non-partisan legislature No regularly-scheduled elections
The 2004 elections created narrow legislative divisions across the country. Both parties flipped seats and chambers across the country, with most Democratic gains coming from the Northeast and West and most Republican gains coming from the South. Over 20 states featured statehouses controlled by fewer than four seats, and nearly 30 states featured divided governments. Both parties took advantage of heavy spending from 527 organizations.[2]
Democrats performed better than Republicans overall at the state-legislative level, despite their defeat in the concurrent presidential election, winning control of eight additional chambers. Favorable redistricting enabled the Democratic takeover of the Montana Legislature and their retaking of control of the North Carolina House of Representatives, which was previously tied.[2] Additionally, they took control of the Washington Senate; the Oregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of the Colorado General Assembly for the first time since 1963, and the Vermont House of Representatives. The Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the Republicans prior to the election.[3][4] Democrats' takeover of the Montana House only came after the Montana Supreme Court declared a Democrat a victor in a contested election that evenly split the chamber. This gave Democrats control of the chamber with the help of incoming governor Brian Schweitzer.[5]
The Democrats also regained the title of holding the most legislative seats across the country, winning one more seat than the Republicans.[4]
Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 85 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections were held for 6,015 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.[6] 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.
Analysts expected a high level of competitiveness among chambers held by both parties, although not to the same extent as the 2002 elections, which took place following most states' legislative redistricting. The application of newly enacted term limits in some states was expected to have little effect, with the exception of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and the close nature of the concurrent presidential election made the effects of potential presidential coattails difficult to predict.[7]
As the election progressed and George W. Bush's chances at winning re-election appeared to increase, outlooks changed on very few legislative chambers. Republicans made minor inroads in states in the South, especially in Oklahoma in the Georgia House of Representatives while Democrats appeared stronger in states in the Northeast and Northwest, such as Vermont and Washington. Due to the presidential election's heavy focus on foreign policy issues such as the Iraq War, the likelihood of coattails reaching all the way down to state legislative races appeared increasingly thin. The majority of state legislative chambers and individual races also remained out of reach for opposition parties due to the prevalence of partisan gerrymandering.[8]
Ratings are designated as follows:
"Tossup": Competitive, no advantage
"Lean": Competitive, slight advantage
"Likely": Not competitive, but opposition could make significant gains
Upper house seats by party holding majority in each state
Republican
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
Democratic
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
Tie
50%
Lower house seats by party holding majority in each state
Republican
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
Democratic
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
Tie
50%
Net changes to upper house seats after the 2004 elections +1 Dem seat +2 Dem seats +3–4 Dem seats +6 Dem seats +1 Rep seat +2 Rep seats +3 Rep seats
Net changes to lower house seats after the 2004 elections +1 Dem seat +2 Dem seats +3–5 Dem seats +7–29 Dem seats +1 Rep seat +2 Rep seats +3–5 Rep seats +6–25 Rep seats
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.
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 gained control of the House of Representatives.
All of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives and half of the Iowa Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the House while the Senate became tied.
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.
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.
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.
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.
All of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and half of the Oklahoma Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of the Senate while Republicans won control of the House.
All of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives and half of the Oregon Senate were up for election. Democrats won control of the Senate while Republicans maintained control of the House.
All of the seats of the Tennessee House of Representatives and half of the Tennessee Senate were up for election. Republicans gained control of the Senate while Democrats maintained control of the House.
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.
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.
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.
All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of Guam were up for election. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term. Democrats lost control of the legislature.