Democrats gained two seats increasing their majority to 23 out of 35 seats, with one seat shy of an outright supermajority.[3]
Background
In the previous state Senate election (2020), the Democrats increased their majority to 5 seats. In August 2022, Republican Sen. Kevin Priola announced he was changing his party affiliation to Democratic.[4] Therefore, for Democrats to lose their absolute majority in the Senate in this election, Republicans and other parties would need to gain at least 4 more seats.
This will be the first election with the districts drawn based on the 2020 census.[5] Due to this, some districts do not have incumbents, as they chose to run in other districts that are not up for election in 2022.
Incumbents not seeking re-election
One Democratic and four Republican incumbents are term-limited and prohibited from seeking a consecutive third term. Under the laws for the state Senate, for terms to be considered non-consecutive, there needs to be a gap of at least 4 years between them.[2]
