The last chamber fell on Monday. The Associated Press determined that Democrats have won enough races to take control of the Georgia state House, the twelfth legislative chamber to change hands in last week’s midterms and the first time Democrats have held the chamber in more than twenty years.
As of Monday, the AP’s calls gave Democrats 91 seats in the 180 seat House and Republicans 86, with three races still unresolved. A majority takes 91, which means the flip does not depend on the remaining calls. Republicans kept the state Senate, where one race was still uncalled, and Democrats also won the governor’s office, giving the party the governorship and one chamber together for the first time in a generation. These are race calls by the AP, not certified results; Georgia’s state certification is due November 20, and at least one House race is headed to a December 1 runoff.
The national picture is the bigger story. Democrats flipped at least twelve chambers: state Senates in Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and lower chambers in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. When the new lawmakers are sworn in, Democrats will hold at least 24 state Senates and 27 lower chambers, and full control of state government, both chambers plus the governor, in at least 22 states, up from 16. Republican trifectas fall from 23 to 17. The National Conference of State Legislatures calls it the largest shift toward Democrats since 2010. The party also broke Republican supermajorities in a dozen more chambers, including fourteen flipped seats in the Indiana House.
What it changes is where a large share of American law now gets written. State legislatures decide voting rules, abortion law, school policy, and the maps that shape Congress. For the next two years, the new Democratic majorities in places like Phoenix, Madison and Austin will set those agendas, while in Georgia divided government begins: a Democratic governor and House facing a Republican Senate.
Some counts are still moving. The AP has not determined control of the North Carolina Senate or either chamber in Alaska, where ranked choice tabulation is set for November 18, and hundreds of individual races remain uncalled. The chamber totals above are the position as of Monday’s calls and will firm up as counting ends.
Transparency note: chamber control figures are the Associated Press’s race calls as reported Monday, with the national totals cross checked against the National Conference of State Legislatures’ post election analysis. Race calls are not certifications, and the story says so where it matters.
