2004 United States state legislative elections
Elections to state legislatures were held on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections. Elections were held for 85 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Michigan and Minnesota held elections for their lower, but not upper houses. Six chambers in three territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.
The 2004 elections created narrow legislative divisions across the country. Both parties flipped seats and chambers across the country, with most Democratic gains coming from the Northeast and West and most Republican gains coming from the South. Over 20 states featured statehouses controlled by fewer than four seats, and nearly 30 states featured divided governments. Both parties took advantage of heavy spending from 527 organizations.
Republicans won control of four chambers from the Democrats. The institution of term limits contributed to the Republican takeover of the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the first time since 1923, and favorable redistricting aided Republicans in winning the Georgia House of Representatives for the first time ever. Republicans additionally won the Tennessee Senate, for the time since 1870, and the Indiana House of Representatives.
Democrats performed better than Republicans overall at the state-legislative level, despite their defeat in the concurrent presidential election, winning control of eight additional chambers. Favorable redistricting enabled the Democratic takeover of the Montana Legislature and their retaking of control of the North Carolina House of Representatives, which was previously tied. Additionally, they took control of the Washington Senate; the Oregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of the Colorado General Assembly for the first time since 1963, and the Vermont House of Representatives. The Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the Republicans prior to the election. Democrats' takeover of the Montana House only came after the Montana Supreme Court declared a Democrat a victor in a contested election that evenly split the chamber. This gave Democrats control of the chamber with the help of incoming governor Brian Schweitzer.
The Democrats also regained the title of holding the most legislative seats across the country, winning one more seat than the Republicans.
Summary table
Regularly scheduled elections were held in 85 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly scheduled elections were held for 6,015 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Many 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 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 midterm election years.Note that this table only covers regularly scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly scheduled elections.
Electoral predictions
Analysts expected a high level of competitiveness among chambers held by both parties, although not to the same extent as the 2002 elections, which took place following most states' legislative redistricting. The application of newly enacted term limits in some states was expected to have little effect, with the exception of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and the close nature of the concurrent presidential election made the effects of potential presidential coattails difficult to predict.As the election progressed and George W. Bush's chances at winning re-election appeared to increase, outlooks changed on very few legislative chambers. Republicans made minor inroads in states in the South, especially in [|Oklahoma] in the Georgia House of Representatives while Democrats appeared stronger in states in the Northeast and Northwest, such as Vermont and Washington. Due to the presidential election's heavy focus on foreign policy issues such as the Iraq War, the likelihood of coattails reaching all the way down to state legislative races appeared increasingly thin. The majority of state legislative chambers and individual races also remained out of reach for opposition parties due to the prevalence of partisan gerrymandering.
Ratings are designated as follows:
- "Tossup": Competitive, no advantage
- "Lean": Competitive, slight advantage
- "Likely": Not competitive, but opposition could make significant gains
- "Safe": Not competitive at all
| State | Chamber | Last election | Rothenberg Oct. 1, 2004 | Result |
| Alaska | Senate | R 12–8 | R 12–8 | |
| Alaska | House of Representatives | R 27–13 | R 26–14 | |
| Arizona | Senate | R 17–13 | R 18–12 | |
| Arizona | House of Representatives | R 38–22 | R 38–22 | |
| Arkansas | Senate | D 27–8 | D 27–8 | |
| Arkansas | House of Representatives | D 70–30 | D 72–28 | |
| California | State Senate | D 25–15 | D 25–15 | |
| California | State Assembly | D 48–32 | D 48–32 | |
| Colorado | Senate | R 18–17 | D 18–17 | |
| Colorado | House of Representatives | R 37–28 | D 35–30 | |
| Connecticut | State Senate | D 21–15 | D 24–12 | |
| Connecticut | House of Representatives | D 94–57 | D 99–52 | |
| Delaware | Senate | D 13–8 | D 13–8 | |
| Delaware | House of Representatives | R 29–12 | R 26–15 | |
| Florida | Senate | R 26–14 | R 26–14 | |
| Florida | House of Representatives | R 81–39 | R 84–36 | |
| Georgia | State Senate | R 30–26 | R 34–22 | |
| Georgia | House of Representatives | D 107–72–1 | R 99–80–1 | |
| Hawaii | Senate | D 20–5 | D 20–5 | |
| Hawaii | House of Representatives | D 36–15 | D 41–10 | |
| Idaho | Senate | R 28–7 | R 28–7 | |
| Idaho | House of Representatives | R 54–16 | R 57–13 | |
| Illinois | Senate | D 32–26–1 | D 31–27–1 | |
| Illinois | House of Representatives | D 66–52 | D 65–53 | |
| Indiana | Senate | R 32–18 | R 33–17 | |
| Indiana | House of Representatives | D 51–49 | R 52–48 | |
| [|Iowa] | Senate | R 29–21 | 25–25 | |
| Iowa | House of Representatives | R 54–46 | R 51–49 | |
| Kansas | Senate | R 30–10 | R 30–10 | |
| Kansas | House of Representatives | R 80–45 | R 83–42 | |
| Kentucky | Senate | R 21–17 | R 22–15 | |
| Kentucky | House of Representatives | D 65–35 | D 57–43 | |
| Maine | Senate | D 18–17 | D 18–17 | |
| Maine | House of Representatives | D 80–67–3–1 | D 76–73–1–1 | |
| Massachusetts | Senate | D 34–6 | D 34–6 | |
| Massachusetts | House of Representatives | D 135–23–1 | D 137–23 | |
| Michigan | House of Representatives | R 62–48 | R 58–52 | |
| Minnesota | House of Representatives | R 81–53 | R 68–66 | |
| Missouri | Senate | R 20–14 | R 23–11 | |
| Missouri | House of Representatives | R 90–73 | R 97–66 | |
| Montana | Senate | R 29–21 | D 27–23 | |
| Montana | House of Representatives | R 53–47 | D 50–50 | |
| Nevada | Senate | R 13–8 | R 12–9 | |
| Nevada | Assembly | D 23–19 | D 26–16 | |
| New Hampshire | Senate | R 18–6 | R 16–8 | |
| New Hampshire | House of Representatives | R 278–122 | R 249–151 | |
| New Mexico | Senate | D 24–18 | D 24–18 | |
| New Mexico | House of Representatives | D 43–27 | D 42–28 | |
| New York | State Senate | R 37–25 | R 35–27 | |
| New York | State Assembly | D 102–48 | D 104–46 | |
| North Carolina | Senate | D 28–22 | D 29–21 | |
| North Carolina | House of Representatives | R 61–59 | D 63–57 | |
| North Dakota | Senate | R 31–16 | R 32–15 | |
| North Dakota | House of Representatives | R 66–28 | R 67–27 | |
| Ohio | Senate | R 22–11 | R 22–11 | |
| Ohio | House of Representatives | R 62–37 | R 61–38 | |
| Oklahoma | Senate | D 28–20 | D 26–22 | |
| Oklahoma | House of Representatives | D 53–48 | R 57–44 | |
| Oregon | State Senate | 15–15 | D 17–13 | |
| Oregon | House of Representatives | R 35–25 | R 33–27 | |
| Pennsylvania | State Senate | R 29–21 | R 30–20 | |
| Pennsylvania | House of Representatives | R 110–93 | R 110–93 | |
| Rhode Island | Senate | D 32–6 | D 33–5 | |
| Rhode Island | House of Representatives | D 63–11–1 | D 59–16 | |
| South Carolina | Senate | R 25–21 | R 26–20 | |
| South Carolina | House of Representatives | R 73–51 | R 74–50 | |
| South Dakota | Senate | R 26–9 | R 25–10 | |
| South Dakota | House of Representatives | R 49–21 | R 50–20 | |
| Tennessee | Senate | D 18–15 | R 17–16 | |
| Tennessee | House of Representatives | D 54–45 | D 53–46 | |
| Texas | Senate | R 19–12 | R 19–12 | |
| Texas | House of Representatives | R 88–62 | R 87–63 | |
| Utah | State Senate | R 22–7 | R 21–8 | |
| Utah | House of Representatives | R 56–19 | R 56–19 | |
| Vermont | Senate | D 19–11 | D 21–9 | |
| Vermont | House of Representatives | R 73–70–4–3 | D 83–60–6–1 | |
| Washington | State Senate | R 25–24 | D 26–23 | |
| Washington | House of Representatives | D 52–46 | D 55–43 | |
| West Virginia | Senate | D 24–10 | D 21–13 | |
| West Virginia | House of Delegates | D 68–32 | D 68–32 | |
| Wisconsin | Senate | R 18–15 | R 19–14 | |
| Wisconsin | State Assembly | R 58–41 | R 60–39 | |
| Wyoming | Senate | R 20–10 | R 23–7 | |
| Wyoming | House of Representatives | R 45–15 | R 46–14 |