The 2022 United States state legislative elections were held on November 8, 2022, for 88 state legislative chambers in 46 states. Across the fifty states, approximately 56 percent of all upper house seats and 92 percent of all lower house seats were up for election. Additionally, six territorial chambers were up in four territories and the District of Columbia. These midterm elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in multiple states.
Prior to the elections, Democrats held 14 trifectas (control of the governor's office and legislative chambers), Republicans held 23 trifectas, and 13 states held a divided government. These were the first elections affected by the 2020 redistricting cycle, which reapportioned state legislatures based on data from the 2020 United States census.
Democrats made unexpected gains in state legislatures across the country, flipping four chambers. This was the first midterm election since 1934 in which the party of the incumbent president did not lose any state legislative chambers to the opposition.
Despite Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans expanded their firm hold on state legislatures across the country in the concurrent legislative elections. With control of decennial redistricting on the line, Democrats had spent heavily in hopes of reversing the advantages Republicans held during the 2010s, but they instead gained control of no new chambers and lose control of both chambers of the New Hampshire General Court. Democrats position weakened further in the 2021 elections, where they lost control of the Virginia House of Delegates and several seats in the New Jersey Legislature.
Entering the 2022 elections, Republicans held government trifectas in 23 states to the Democrats' 14, with 13 states having divided governments. Democrats held no chambers in states won by Donald Trump in the 2020 election, although the Alaska House of Representatives was controlled by a Democratic-led coalition. Conversely, Republicans controlled 14 chambers in states won by Joe Biden.
The landmark 2022 ruling Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health which overturned the constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade, upended the landscape of the midterm elections, becoming a primary motivating factor for Democratic voters. Prior to Dobbs, inflation, alongside other economic concerns, had been the primary issues of the midterms, with some focus on immigration as well. Republicans continued to focus on these issues, but Dobbs gave Democrats a concrete motivating policy with which to turn out their voters, which they had previously lacked amid Joe Biden's declining approval ratings. Threats to American democracy remained a secondary motivating factor for Democrats in the wake of the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack. Abortion access was on the ballot in several states, either directly through ballot measures or indirectly through gubernatorial and legislative elections.
Regularly scheduled elections were held in 88 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States; nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 6,064 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Most 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. The chambers that were 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 election years.
Note that this table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.
The 2022 elections were the first held after redistricting following the 2020 census. All states holding elections in 2022 did so under new maps drawn in accordance with the new census results with the exception of Montana, which implements its new maps four years after the census as opposed to two. In a majority of states, legislative redistricting is controlled by the state legislature, often subject to gubernatorial veto. This allows for widespread gerrymandering, in which the party in power draws legislative boundaries to favor itself. Many states delegate redistricting power to an independent or bipartisan redistricting commission, often with the goal of minimizing or eliminating partisan gerrymandering.
Four states established independent redistricting commissions via citizen-led ballot initiative prior to the 2020 redistricting cycle: Colorado, Michigan, Utah, and Virginia. The new commission in Michigan, especially, was significant due to its implementing of maps seen as fair, replacing maps seen as heavily gerrymandered to favor Republicans, which had been established as a part of Project REDMAP after the 2010 elections. In Utah, Republican legislators voted in 2020 to strip the state's newly established commission of its power, returning control over redistricting to the Republican-led legislature. In Virginia, the state's commission failed to agree on new legislative maps, leading the Supreme Court of Virginia to appoint a special master to draw its maps for use beginning in the 2023 elections.
In a number of states, lawsuits successfully challenged district maps drawn by state legislatures. In Ohio and North Carolina, the states' respective Supreme Courts rejected the legislature's maps as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. In North Carolina, a second set of maps was eventually approved by the courts, but in Ohio, the courts continually rejected the new maps until a federal court forced them to let one set stand due to the impending primary election. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, redistricting fell to state courts after their legislatures and governors deadlocked. Wisconsin's litigation briefly involved the U.S. Supreme Court over concerns on the application of the Voting Rights Act in the state court's prior decision. The New York Court of Appeals overturned the state's new Senate map, drawn by the Democratic-controlled legislature, calling it an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Maps for the State Assembly were not overturned. The new Senate maps drawn by a special master substantially changed the districts drawn in New York City, greatly increasing the number of competitive districts.
In Michigan and Pennsylvania, new maps implemented by independent and bipartisan commissions were seen as much fairer compared to the states' previous maps. In Wisconsin, however, the court's chosen map was seen as favoring Republicans. All three states were severely affected by partisan gerrymandering during the 2010s due to Project REDMAP. Democrats had not won control of any legislative chambers in those states since 2008 despite winning the statewide popular vote multiple times. In Republican-led states such as Texas, Florida, and Georgia, Republican legislatures passed maps seen as gerrymandered and uncompetitive, while states such as Nevada did the same in favor of Democrats.
Although the 2022 elections were initially expected to be highly Republican-favoring, given the increasing unpopularity of Democratic president Joe Biden, the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June dramatically shifted the national political environment. By the time of the elections, a similar number of Republican- and Democratic-controlled chambers were considered competitive, mostly in states won narrowly by Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Democrats' best chances for gains were seen in states such as Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, while Republicans' best chances were in Alaska, Maine, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon. Both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature, one controlled by each party, were seen as highly-competitive. Overall, fewer legislative chambers were seen as competitive compared to previous cycles.
Most election predictors use:
The Democrats flipped the Minnesota Senate, the Michigan Senate for the first time since 1984, and the Michigan House of Representatives from Republican control, and they also established a coalition government in the Alaska Senate. Meanwhile, the Alaska House of Representatives switched from a Democratic-led coalition to a Republican-led coalition. Further special elections on February 7, 2023, gave Democrats control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Democrats had won control of the chamber in 2022, but vacancies prevented them from seating it until after the special elections. Additionally, Democrats gained a supermajority in the Vermont General Assembly, which combined with their supermajority in the Vermont Senate, allowed Democrats to override any vetoes from Republican governor Phil Scott. Republicans gained a supermajority in the North Carolina Senate, and while they initially fell one seat shy of a supermajority in the General Assembly, they later gained one in April 2023 when a lawmaker switched parties, allowing them to override vetoes from Democratic governor Roy Cooper.
All of the seats of the Alabama Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
Half of the seats of the Alaska Senate and all of the seats of the Alaska House of Representatives were up for election. The Alaska House of Representatives is controlled by a coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. The Alaska Senate flipped from Republican control to a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.
All of the seats of the Arizona Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Arkansas House of Representatives and half of the Arkansas Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the California House of Representatives and half of the California Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Colorado House of Representatives and half of the Colorado Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Connecticut Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Delaware House of Representatives and half of the Delaware Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Florida House of Representatives and half of the Florida Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Georgia Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Hawaii House of Representatives and half of the Hawaii Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Idaho Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Illinois House of Representatives and 2/3rds of the Illinois Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Indiana House of Representatives and half of the Indiana Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Iowa House of Representatives and half of the Iowa Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Kansas House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Kentucky House of Representatives and half of the Kentucky Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Maine Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Maryland Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Massachusetts General Court were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Michigan Legislature were up for election. Democrats won control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Minnesota Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of the Minnesota House of representatives and won control of the Minnesota Senate.
All of the seats of the Missouri House of Representatives and half of the Missouri Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Montana House of Representatives and half of the Montana Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Nebraska Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of the officially non-partisan chamber.
All of the seats of the Nevada House of Representatives and half of the Nevada Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the New Hampshire General Court were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the New Mexico House of Representatives were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the New York Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the North Carolina Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
Half of both chambers of the North Dakota Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Ohio House of Representatives and half of the Ohio Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and half of the Oklahoma Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Oregon House of Representatives and half of the Oregon Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and half of the Pennsylvania Senate were up for election. Democrats won control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans maintained control of the Senate.
All of the seats of the Rhode Island Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the California House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the South Dakota Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Tennessee House of Representatives and half of the Tennessee Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Texas Legislature were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both 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 chambers.
All of the seats of the Vermont Legislature were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Washington House of Representatives and half of the Washington Senate were up for election. Democrats maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the West Virginia House of Delegates and half of the West Virginia Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Wisconsin Assembly and half of the Wisconsin Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the Wyoming House of Representatives and half of the Wyoming Senate were up for election. Republicans maintained control of both chambers.
All of the seats of the American Samoa House of Representatives were up for election. 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 retained control of the legislature.
A portion of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, and all of the seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, were up for election. Members of the senate serve either four-year terms, while members of the house serve two-year terms. A coalition of Independents and Democrats replaced the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House.
All of the seats of the unicameral Legislature of the Virgin Islands were up for election. All members of the legislature serve a two-year term. Democrats retained control of the legislature.
The Council of the District of Columbia serves as the legislative branch of the federal district of Washington, D.C. Half of the council seats are up for election in 2022. Council members serve four-year terms. Democrats retained supermajority control of the council.
Various states held special elections for legislative districts throughout the year. Neither party made a net gain, with Democrats flipping one seat in the Michigan House of Representatives and Republicans flipping a seat in the Montana Senate.