2009 United States state legislative elections

2009 United States state legislative elections
2 legislative chambers; 2 states
	Map of lower house elections:; Democrats retained control; Republicans retained control; No regularly-scheduled elections

The 2009 United States state legislative elections were held on November 3, 2009. Two legislative chambers in two states held regularly-scheduled elections. These off-year elections coincided with other state and local elections, including gubernatorial elections in two states.^[1] Both chambers of the Northern Mariana Islands legislature were up, which remains the last time they were up in this class of elections.

Democrats maintained control of the lower house of the New Jersey legislature, and Republicans did so in the lower chamber in Virginia. This remains the last time Democrats won more state legislative chambers and seats than Republicans.

Summary table

Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 2 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States. Nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections were held for 180 of the 7,383 legislative seats. This table only covers regularly-scheduled elections; additional special elections took place concurrently with these regularly-scheduled elections.

State	Upper House				Lower House
State	Seats up	Total	% up	Term	Seats up	Total	% up	Term
New Jersey	0	40	0	2/4^[b]	80	80	100	4
Virginia	0	40	0	4	100	100	100	2

State summaries

New Jersey

All seats of the New Jersey General Assembly were up for election. Assembly members were elected to two-year terms in two-member districts.^[2] Democrats retained majority control, albeit a slightly reduced one.^[3]^[4]

General Assembly
Party		Before	After	Change
	Democratic	48	47	1
	Republican	31	32	1
Total			80	80

Virginia

All seats of the Virginia House of Delegates are up for election. Delegates are elected to two-year terms in single-member districts. Republicans expanded their majority.^[5]

House of Delegates
Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	53	59	6
	Democratic	45	39	6
	Independents	2	2
Total			100	100

Territorial Summaries

Northern Mariana Islands

All seats of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and half of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate are up for election. Senators are elected to four-year terms and Representatives are elected to two-year terms.

House of Representatives
Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	12	9	3
	Democratic	1	0	1
	Independents	3	4	1
	Covenant Party	4	7	3
Total			20	20

Senate
Party		Before	After	Change
	Republican	3	5	2
	Coalition	6	0	6
	Independents	0	4	4
Total			10	10

Notes

^ ^a ^b The Alaska Senate was controlled by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. The minority caucus consists of Republicans who were not part of the majority coalition.
^ The upper houses of Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Texas use a 2-4-4 term length system.