2008 United States state legislative elections
Elections to state legislatures were held on November 4, 2008, alongside other elections, in which Democrats scored significant gains in a [Wave 2008 United States elections|elections in the United States|blue wave election]. 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. Seven territorial chambers in four territories and the District of Columbia were up.
The New Hampshire Senate saw the election of the first-ever female majority. This is the first time this has occurred in any chamber of any state legislature in United States history. In New York, the Democrats obtained a trifecta for the first time since 1935, and in [|Delaware] for the first time since 1977.
The Democrats took control of six legislative bodies to the Republicans' four. Democrats took control of the Delaware House of Representatives, for the first time since 1985, the Montana House of Representatives, the Nevada Senate, and the New York State Senate, for the first time since 1966, the Ohio House of Representatives, and the Wisconsin State Assembly. Republicans took control of the Montana Senate; both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly, for the first time since 1870; and the Oklahoma Senate, for the first time in state history. With the Montana Senate and the Montana House of Representatives flipping, this election cycle marked the last time in U.S. history as of where the upper house and lower house, held by different political parties in a state legislature, both flipped in the same cycle.
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 5,948 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 Democrats to perform quite well, owing to the strong polling of Democrat Barack Obama in the concurrent presidential election. Despite this, they expected Democrats to only be able to pick up a net handful of chambers from the Republicans owing to the highs they had already reached during the 2006 elections. They saw Democrats' best pickup opportunities in chambers in midwestern presidential battleground states such as the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Ohio House of Representatives, as well as Republican-held chambers in strongly-Democratic states, such as the Delaware House of Representatives and the New York State Senate. Despite Obama's large polling lead, Republicans were expected to be able to win a few chambers in southern states where his potential coattails were seen as weaker in rural areas, such as the Oklahoma Senate and the Tennessee Senate.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 | Stateline Oct. 15, 2008 | Result |
| Alaska | Senate | Coal. 15–5 | Coal. 16–4 | |
| Alaska | House of Representatives | R 23–17 | R 22–18 | |
| Arizona | Senate | R 17–13 | R 18–12 | |
| Arizona | House of Representatives | R 33–27 | R 35–25 | |
| Arkansas | Senate | D 27–8 | D 27–8 | |
| Arkansas | House of Representatives | D 72–28 | D 71–28–1 | |
| California | State Senate | D 25–15 | D 25–15 | |
| California | State Assembly | D 48–32 | D 51–29 | |
| Colorado | Senate | D 20–15 | D 21–14 | |
| Colorado | House of Representatives | D 39–26 | D 38–27 | |
| Connecticut | State Senate | D 24–12 | D 24–12 | |
| Connecticut | House of Representatives | D 107–44 | D 114–37 | |
| Delaware | Senate | D 13–8 | D 16–5 | |
| Delaware | House of Representatives | R 23–18 | D 24–17 | |
| Florida | Senate | R 26–14 | R 26–14 | |
| Florida | House of Representatives | R 78–42 | R 76–44 | |
| Georgia | State Senate | R 34–22 | R 34–22 | |
| Georgia | House of Representatives | R 106–74 | R 105–74–1 | |
| Hawaii | Senate | D 20–5 | D 23–2 | |
| Hawaii | House of Representatives | D 43–8 | D 45–6 | |
| Idaho | Senate | R 28–7 | R 28–7 | |
| Idaho | House of Representatives | R 51–19 | R 52–18 | |
| Illinois | Senate | D 37–22 | D 37–22 | |
| Illinois | House of Representatives | D 66–52 | D 70–48 | |
| Indiana | Senate | R 33–17 | R 33–17 | |
| Indiana | House of Representatives | D 51–49 | D 52–48 | |
| Iowa | Senate | D 30–20 | D 32–18 | |
| Iowa | House of Representatives | D 54–46 | D 57–43 | |
| Kansas | Senate | R 30–10 | R 31–9 | |
| Kansas | House of Representatives | R 78–47 | R 77–48 | |
| Kentucky | Senate | R 21–16–1 | R 22–15–1 | |
| Kentucky | House of Representatives | D 61–39 | D 65–35 | |
| Maine | Senate | D 18–17 | D 20–15 | |
| Maine | House of Representatives | D 90–59–2 | D 95–55–1 | |
| Massachusetts | Senate | D 35–5 | D 35–5 | |
| Massachusetts | House of Representatives | D 141–19 | D 144–15–1 | |
| Michigan | House of Representatives | D 58–52 | D 67–43 | |
| Minnesota | House of Representatives | D 85–49 | D 87–47 | |
| Missouri | Senate | R 21–13 | R 23–11 | |
| Missouri | House of Representatives | R 92–71 | R 89–74 | |
| [|Montana] | Senate | D 26–24 | R 27–23 | |
| Montana | House of Representatives | R 50–49–1 | D 50–50 | |
| Nevada | Senate | R 11–10 | D 12–9 | |
| Nevada | Assembly | D 27–15 | D 28–14 | |
| New Hampshire | Senate | D 14–10 | D 14–10 | |
| New Hampshire | House of Representatives | D 239–160–1 | D 225–175 | |
| New Mexico | Senate | D 24–18 | D 27–15 | |
| New Mexico | House of Representatives | D 42–28 | D 45–25 | |
| [|New York] | State Senate | R 33–29 | D 32–30 | |
| New York | State Assembly | D 106–42–1–1 | D 107–41–1–1 | |
| North Carolina | Senate | D 31–19 | D 30–20 | |
| North Carolina | House of Representatives | D 68–52 | D 68–52 | |
| North Dakota | Senate | R 26–21 | R 26–21 | |
| North Dakota | House of Representatives | R 61–33 | R 58–36 | |
| Ohio | Senate | R 21–12 | R 21–12 | |
| Ohio | House of Representatives | R 53–46 | D 53–46 | |
| Oklahoma | Senate | D 24–24 | R 26–22 | |
| Oklahoma | House of Representatives | R 57–44 | R 61–40 | |
| Oregon | State Senate | D 19–11 | D 18–12 | |
| Oregon | House of Representatives | D 31–29 | D 36–24 | |
| Pennsylvania | State Senate | R 29–21 | R 30–20 | |
| Pennsylvania | House of Representatives | D 102–101 | D 104–99 | |
| Rhode Island | Senate | D 33–5 | D 33–4–1 | |
| Rhode Island | House of Representatives | D 60–15 | D 69–6 | |
| South Carolina | Senate | R 26–20 | R 27–19 | |
| South Carolina | House of Representatives | R 73–51 | R 73–51 | |
| South Dakota | Senate | R 20–15 | R 21–14 | |
| South Dakota | House of Representatives | R 50–20 | R 46–24 | |
| Tennessee | Senate | 16–16–1 | R 19–14 | |
| Tennessee | House of Representatives | D 53–46 | R 50–49 | |
| Texas | Senate | R 20–11 | R 19–12 | |
| Texas | House of Representatives | R 81–69 | R 76–74 | |
| Utah | State Senate | R 21–8 | R 21–8 | |
| Utah | House of Representatives | R 55–20 | R 53–22 | |
| Vermont | Senate | D 23–7 | D 23–7 | |
| Vermont | House of Representatives | D 93–49–6–2 | D 94–48–5–3 | |
| [|Washington] | State Senate | D 32–17 | D 31–18 | |
| Washington | House of Representatives | D 62–36 | D 62–36 | |
| West Virginia | Senate | D 23–11 | D 26–8 | |
| West Virginia | House of Delegates | D 72–28 | D 71–29 | |
| Wisconsin | Senate | D 18–15 | D 18–15 | |
| Wisconsin | State Assembly | R 52–47 | D 52–46–1 | |
| Wyoming | Senate | R 23–7 | R 23–7 | |
| Wyoming | House of Representatives | R 43–17 | R 41–19 |