2001 United States state legislative elections
← 2000 November 6, 2001 2002 →
4 legislative chambers in 2 states
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Party Republican Democratic Coalition
Chambers before 51[a] 45[a] 1[c]
Chambers after 49[b] 47 1[c]
Overall change Decrease 2 Increase 2 Steady
Map of upper house elections:
     Republicans retained control
     Split body formed
     No regularly-scheduled elections
Map of lower house elections:
     Democrats gained control
     Republicans retained control
     No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2001 United States state legislative elections were held on November 6, 2001, during President George W. Bush's first term in office. Elections were held for four legislative chambers in two states, simultaneous to those states' gubernatorial elections.[1] Both chambers of the Northern Mariana Islands legislature were up as well.

These were the first elections affected by the 2000 redistricting cycle, which reapportioned state legislatures based on data from the 2000 United States census.

Republicans maintained control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, while Democrats won control of the New Jersey General Assembly, and evenly split the State Senate.[2] Democrats additionally won control of the Washington House of Representatives through special elections.[3][4][5]

Summary table

Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 4 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections were held for 260 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[d] 80 80 100 2
Virginia 40 40 100 4 100 100 100 2

State summaries

Upper houses

State Previous UH Result Party control
New Jersey R 24-16 20-20 Split body formed
Virginia R 21-19 R 21-19 Republican Hold

Lower houses

State Previous LH Result Party control
New Jersey R 45-35 D 44-36 Democratic Takeover
Virginia R 52-47-1 R 64-34-2 Republican hold

Territorial and federal district summaries

Upper houses

State Previous UH Result Party control
Northern Mariana Islands R 6-2-1 R 4-3-1-1 Republican Hold

Lower houses

State Previous LH Result Party control
Northern Mariana Islands R 11-6-1 R 16-1-1 Republican hold

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Washington House of Representatives and Maine Senate were tied, and they were controlled by a power-sharing agreement between Democrats and Republicans. They are not counted towards either total here.
  2. ^ The New Jersey Senate became tied. The Maine Senate remained tied, and they were controlled by a power-sharing agreement between Democrats and Republicans. They are not counted towards either total here.
  3. ^ a b The Arizona Senate was controlled by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. The minority caucus consists of Republicans who were not part of the majority coalition.
  4. ^ 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, 2002". Ballotpedia.
  2. ^ "Democrats Grab Control of Two Chambers--Earn Tie in a Third. (On First Reading)". State Legislatures. 27 (10): 7. December 2001 – via Gale General OneFile.
  3. ^ admin (2001-10-22). "House race could end Washington's legislative gridlock • Daily Journal of Commerce". Daily Journal of Commerce. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  4. ^ Neurath, Peter (September 21, 2001). "Control of House still teeters in the balance". Puget Sound Business Journal. 22 (20): 7 – via Gale Business: Insights.
  5. ^ "Democrats Cut Into Republican Control Of State Legislatures". Congress Daily AM. The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC. November 9, 2001 – via Gale General OneFile.
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