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An early look at partisan balance in state legislatures

In the last few Brew issues, we’ve brought you a variety of election results analyses such as the updated statuses of state government trifectas and triplexes and an early look at Pivot Counties results. Today, let’s take a glance at what we know about the status of partisan balance in the state legislatures.

As of Monday, partisan control changed in two state legislative chambers as a result of the 2020 elections—Republicans gained majorities in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire state Senate.

Sixteen state-level recounts in New Hampshire begin Nov. 9, 15 of which are state legislative seats. These recounts could affect partisan control of the state legislature. We briefed our Election Help Desk newsletter subscribers on this yesterday afternoon—click here to subscribe.

This is the fourth time this decade that the New Hampshire Legislature has changed party hands.

In 2010, the Democrats lost their trifecta when Republicans gained a majority in both the state Senate and House.
In 2016, the state gained a Republican trifecta when the party maintained control in the legislature and won the governorship.
In 2018, Democrats gained a majority in the state Senate, causing the state to lose its Republican trifecta.

Majorities in two chambers remained undecided: the Alaska House of Representatives and the Arizona House of Representatives.

Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis of the changes in partisan balance of each seat in state legislatures. More than 500 races—approximately 10% of the state legislative districts up for election this year—remain uncalled.

> KEEP READING

Local roundup

This year, elections were held in 56 of the top 100 cities by population, including elections for 29 mayors. As races continue to be called, we’ve been able to dive into some of the local battleground results. Today, let’s look at the Los Angeles County district attorney election.

George Gascón defeated incumbent Jackie Lacey in the nonpartisan general election for Los Angeles County District Attorney, the nation's largest local prosecutorial district. Preliminary returns show Gascón defeated Lacey 54% to 46%.

Gascón served two terms as San Francisco District Attorney, winning election to succeed Kamala Harris in 2011 and winning re-election unopposed in 2015. He did not seek election to a third term in 2019. Lacey was first elected as Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2012 and was re-elected unopposed in 2016.

Gascón was endorsed by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Lacey received endorsements from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), California State Treasurer Fiona Ma (D), and the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Association.

Lacey was the first-place finisher in the March 3 nonpartisan primary, winning 49% of the vote to Gascón's 28%.

The last time an incumbent Los Angeles County district attorney was defeated in a re-election bid was in 2000.

Other Nov. 3 local battleground races include:

> KEEP READING

Don’t miss tomorrow’s election results briefing

On Wednesday, we’ll take a look at notable updated election results. Join Ballotpedia Managing Editor Cory Eucalitto as he brings you up-to-date on the newly finalized races, recently called ballot measures, and trends from across the country.

He’ll be addressing topics like:

Possible lawsuits and recounts in the presidential election
Georgia Senate runoff possibilities
Control of the Senate, House, and state government trifecta changes
State legislature net seat changes

You won’t want to miss such a fascinating overview of where things stand following Nov. 3! This free webinar will be held tomorrow, Nov. 11, at 11:00 a.m. Central.

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