2017 United States state legislative elections explained

Election Name:	2017 United States state legislative elections
Country:	United States
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2016 United States state legislative elections
Previous Year:	2016
Next Election:	2018 United States state legislative elections
Next Year:	2018
Seats For Election:	3 legislative chambers 2 states
Election Date:	November 7, 2017
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
1Data1:	66
2Data1:	66
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
1Data2:	29
2Data2:	30
3Data2:	1
Party3:	Coalition
1Data3:	3
2Data3:	2
3Data3:	1
1Blank:	Chambers before
2Blank:	Chambers after
3Blank:	Overall change
Map Size:	320px
Map2 Image:	US2017statelowerhouses.svg
Map2 Size:	320px
Map2 Caption:	Map of lower house elections:
Colour3:	d9b2d9

The 2017 United States state legislative elections were held on November 7, 2017. Three legislative chambers in two states held regularly scheduled elections. These off-year elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in two states.^[1]

Democrats won control of the Washington Senate through a special election for a seat previously held by a Republican, ending Republican-led coalition control there. Meanwhile, in regularly scheduled elections, Democrats maintained control of the New Jersey legislature and narrowed Republican control of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Summary table

Regularly scheduled elections were held in 3 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 220 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
New Jersey	40	40	100	2/4	80	80	100	4
Virginia	0	0	100	4	100	100	100	2

State summaries

New Jersey

See main article: 2017 New Jersey General Assembly election and 2017 New Jersey State Senate election. 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 held elections for four-year terms. Democrats maintained majority control of both houses with expanded majorities.

+colspan=6	Senate
Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Democratic	Stephen Sweeney		24		25	1
	Republican	Thomas Kean Jr.	16	15	1
Total			40	40

+colspan=6	General Assembly
Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Democratic	Vincent Prieto		52		54	2
	Republican	Jon Bramnick	28	26	2
Total			80	80

Virginia

See main article: 2017 Virginia House of Delegates election. All seats of the Virginia House of Delegates were up for election in single-member districts. Delegates serve terms of two years. Democrats gained 15 seats and fell one seat short of a majority.

+colspan=6	House of Delegates
Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Republican	William J. Howell	66		51	15
	Democratic	David Toscano	34		49	15
Total			100	100

Special elections

Delaware

• Delaware's 10th state senate district special election, 2017: A February 25th special election for the Delaware Senate seat left vacant by Bethany Hall-Long when she became the state's lieutenant governor was won by Democrat Stephanie Hansen.

Florida

• The Florida Senate seat formerly held by Frank Artiles, who had resigned after using racial slurs to describe fellow legislators. The seat was won by Annette Taddeo with 51% of the vote.^[2]

Georgia

• An April 18 special election^[3] for the Georgia Senate seat left vacated by Judson Hill^[4] when he decided to run for US Congress 6th district seat vacated by Tom Price who was appointed Health and Human Services Secretary. Democratic candidate Christine Triebsch^[5] and Republican candidate Kay Kirkpatrick^[6] ran for the vacated Georgia State Senate seat, which was won by Kirkpatrick.
• Democrats also picked up two seats previously held by Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives, as well as advancing two candidates to a runoff election for a Georgia State Senate seat formerly held by a Republican.^[7]

Louisiana

• Republicans picked up a total of one seat, in the Louisiana House of Representatives where Republican John Stefanski won a special election to the seat vacated by Democratic incumbent Jack Montoucet, who resigned to be appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries by Governor John Bel Edwards.^[8]

New Hampshire

• Democrats won two seats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.^[9]
• Then another seat New Hampshire House of Representatives changed to Democratic control on September 26, 2017.^[10]
• On October 24 a special election was held in Strafford 13 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.^[11] Casey Conley, a Democrat, won comfortably.^[12]
• On November 7, Democrats won a fourth seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives with Democratic Erika Connors winning an election to fill a vacancy for the Hillsborough 15 district caused by the death of Republican Rep. Steve Vaillancourt.^[13]

New York

• There was a special election in the heavily Republican New York Assembly District 9 on May 23, which was won by Democrat Christine Pellegrino 58–42. Trump had won the district with 60% of the vote.^[14]

Oklahoma

• Democrats flipped two seats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and one seat in the Oklahoma Senate.^[15]
• On November 14, Democrat Allison Ikley-Freeman won an Oklahoma Senate special election in the previously Republican-held 37th district by 31 votes.^[16]

Washington

• On November 7, several states held special elections. There was a special election to fill the Washington State Senate seat for the Washington's 45th legislative district. Since the State Senate was evenly split going into the election, the contest election determined the partisan balance of power in Washington.^[17] Democrat Manka Dhingra won a majority of votes in the first round of the election, but rules required the race to go to a second round regardless.^[18] In the second round, with over $9,000,000 spent on the election through campaign contributions and political action committee expenditures, with a small number of votes yet to be counted, Dhingra led by over a 10% margin. Anticipating the Dhingra victory, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Sharon Nelson described a comprehensive agenda for the 60-day legislative session beginning in January that included voting rights reform and campaign-finance disclosure revision, as well as women's reproductive health, clean energy and firearms safety measures.^[19] Dhingra won the second round.

See also

• 2017 United States gubernatorial elections

Notes and References

1. Web site: State legislative elections, 2017 . . December 25, 2022 .
2. News: Cillizza. Chris. Democrats just keep winning Republican seats they shouldn't be winning. CNN. September 28, 2017. September 28, 2017.
3. Web site: Special Election Set by Governor Deal for Senate District 32. Sack. Lawton. February 17, 2017. GeorgiaPol. March 15, 2017.
4. Web site: Who's who in the race to fill the state Senate seat in east Cobb. Baruchman. Michelle. ajc. March 15, 2017.
5. Web site: Home. www.christine4ga.com. en. March 15, 2017.
6. Web site: Kay Kirkpatrick For Georgia State Senate - Republican - Special Election. KayForSenate.com. en-US. March 15, 2017.
7. News: Crawford. Tom. Democrats show signs of life in Georgia. 4 December 2017. Thomasville Times-Enterprise. November 14, 2017.
8. News: Sanchez. Juan. Louisiana House welcomes two new Republican lawmakers. WDSU. April 10, 2017. September 14, 2017.
9. News: Blake. Aaron. Democrats are getting some very good news in special elections. The Washington Post. September 13, 2017. September 14, 2017.
10. News: Cillizza. Chris. Democrats just keep winning Republican seats they shouldn't be winning. CNN. September 28, 2017. September 28, 2017.
11. Web site: William M. Gardner . The Governor and Executive Council, at their meeting held on Wednesday, August 23, 2017, approved the Precept to hold a SPECIAL ELECTION for STATE REPRESENTATIVE from STRAFFORD COUNTY DISTRICT NO. 13. (Dover Ward 1) . Sos.nh.gov . August 23, 2017 . September 27, 2017.
12. News: Conley easily wins special election. Early. Brian. fosters.com. 2018-03-22. en.
13. News: DiStaso. John. Democrats score wins in two NH House special elections. 4 December 2017. WMUR9. November 7, 2017.
14. News: Schwartz. David M.. In upset, Democrat Pellegrino wins 9th District Assembly seat. Newsday. May 24, 2017. June 27, 2017.
15. News: Blake. Aaron. Democrats are getting some very good news in special elections. The Washington Post. September 13, 2017. September 14, 2017.
16. Web site: Democrat pulls off special election victory for Senate seat in west Tulsa County. Randy Krehbiel Tulsa. World. December 19, 2017.
17. News: Strauss. Daniel. The next national special election clash. 19 October 2017. July 3, 2017.
18. Web site: Wayman. Tim. August 1, 2017 Primary results. Elections & Voting. Washington Secretary of State. 19 October 2017.
19. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/45th-district-state-senate-manka-dhingra-jinyoung-englund/ Manka Dhingra leading Jinyoung Englund in pivotal 45th District Senate race