2015 United States state legislative elections explained

Election Name:	2015 United States state legislative elections
Country:	United States
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2014 United States state legislative elections
Previous Year:	2014
Next Election:	2016 United States state legislative elections
Next Year:	2016
Seats For Election:	7 legislative chambers 4 states
Election Date:	November 3, 2015
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
1Data1:	68
2Data1:	68
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
1Data2:	30
2Data2:	30
1Blank:	Chambers before
2Blank:	Chambers after
3Blank:	Overall change
Map Size:	320px
Map2 Image:	US2015statelowerhouses.svg
Map2 Size:	320px
Map2 Caption:	Map of lower house elections:
Colour3:	d9b2d9
Party3:	Coalition
1Data3:	1
2Data3:	1

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
State	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	80	80	100	2
Virginia	40	40	100	4	100	100	100	2

State summaries

Louisiana

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.

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
+colspan=6	Louisiana State Senate
	Republican	John Alario		26		25	1
	Democratic	Eric LaFleur	14	12	1
Total			39	39

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
+colspan=6	Louisiana House of Representatives
	Republican	Chuck Kleckley		58		61	3
	Democratic	Gene Reynolds	43	42	1
	Independent		2	2
Total			105	105

Mississippi

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.

Party		Leader	Before	After
+colspan=6	Mississippi State Senate
	Republican	Giles Ward		32	32
	Democratic	Steve Hale	20	20
Total			52	52

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
+colspan=6	Mississippi House of Representatives
	Republican	Philip Gunn		67		73	6
	Democratic	Robert Moak	54	49	5
Total			122	122

New Jersey

See 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.

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
+colspan=6	New Jersey General Assembly
	Democratic	Vincent Prieto		48		52	4
	Republican	Jon Bramnick	32	28	4
Total			80	80

Virginia

See main article: 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.

Party		Leader	Before	After
+colspan=6	Senate of Virginia
	Republican	Tommy Norment		21	21
	Democratic	Dick Saslaw	19	19
Total			40	40

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
+colspan=6	Virginia House of Delegates
	Republican	William J. Howell		67		66	1
	Democratic	David Toscano	33	34	1
Total			100	100

Notes and References

Web site: State legislative elections, 2015 . . December 25, 2022 .