State senate elections, 2011

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Four state senates held general elections in November, 2011.

In the 50 states, there are 1,971 state senators. In the 4 states where a state senate election took place in November, there are a total of 171 senate seats. In those states, 171 senate seats were up for election in November.

See also: State legislative elections and State house elections

By the numbers

Number of seats in all 50 senates: 1,971
Number of seats in the 4 senates with November 2011 elections: 171
Number of seats up for election in the 4 senates with November 2011 elections: 171
% of total (all 50 states) senate seats up for election in 2011: 8.7%
Number of senates with a November 2011 election with a current Democratic majority: 2
Number of senates with a November 2011 election with a current Republican majority: 2

Louisiana State Senate elections, 2011

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Going into the November 2011 elections, the Republican Party was the majority party in 29 state senates, including Louisiana. One chamber (Nebraska) is officially nonpartisan. In 19 states, the Democratic Party held the majority party.

In the other 3 states with state senate elections in 2011 (Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia), the Democratic Party held the majority party in Virginia and New Jersey, while the Republican Party held the majority party in the Mississippi State Senate.

The partisan composition of the Louisiana State Senate before and after the election:

Louisiana State Senate
Party As of November 2011 After the 2011 Election
     Democratic Party 17 15
     Republican Party 22 24
Total 39 39

Incumbents unopposed by a major party

2011 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

Eighteen incumbents (46.2%) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

  • 5 Democratic incumbents faced no November challenger.
  • 13 Republican incumbents faced no November challenger

2 challengers (one Democrat and one Republican) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

Primary challenges

Six incumbents faced competition in the October 22 primary.

The following 6 incumbents faced primary opposition:

Retiring incumbents

Nine incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 30 (76.9%) ran for re-election. Of the 9 incumbents who did not run for re-election, 6 are Democrats and 3 are Republicans. Furthermore, 6 of the retiring incumbents are ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits and 1 was displaced by redistricting.

Incumbents who are retiring are:

Incumbents displaced by redistricting

One incumbent senator was displaced by the 2011 redistricting process. District 2 Democratic Senator Cynthia Willard-Lewis was displaced and instead ran for election in District 3.

New Jersey State Senate elections, 2011

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Going into the November 2011 elections, the Republican Party was the majority party in 29 state senates. One chamber (Nebraska) is officially nonpartisan. In 19 states, the Democratic Party was the majority party. The New Jersey State Senate was one of the 19 chambers with a Democratic Party majority.

In the other 3 states with state senate elections in 2011 (Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia), the Democratic Party was the majority party in Virginia, while the Republican Party was the majority party in the state senates of Louisiana and Mississippi.

The partisan composition of the New Jersey State Senate before and after the election is as follows:

New Jersey State Senate
Party As of November 2011 After the 2011 Election
     Democratic Party 24 24
     Republican Party 16 16
Total 40 40

Races to watch

  • Districts 2, 14, & 38: Both PolitickerNJ and Asbury Park Press identified these districts as competitive races in 2011. APP noted that the proportion of registered Democrats declined in these districts.PolitickerNJ said that these changes would not ultimately result in GOP pick-ups. NJ Spotlight said that Assemblyman Vincent Polistina's decision to run for the Senate affected the strength of the GOP assembly ticket in District 2.[1][2][3]
  • District 1: PolitickerNJ noted that District 1 appeared lean Republican but demonstrated strong historical support for Senator Jeff Van Drew (D).NJSpotlight noted that Republicans seemed to be focused on reclaiming the district's assembly seats. Redistricting resulted in less registered Republicans in District 1.[2][3]
  • District 7: District 7 was split between both parties, with Republicans controlling the Senate seat and Democrats controlling the two Assembly seats. PolitickerNJ noted that several Republican-leaning areas were added to the area in redistricting, but since these districts came from solidly Republican districts, Democratic turnout in these areas may expand in 2011. Joseph Malone, III (R) was also moved into District 7 via redistricting, but decided to retire. Jack Conners (D) was moved out of District 7 by redistricting and decided to retire. Troy Singleton was appointed to replace Connors in the Assembly and run in District 7.[2][3]
  • District 11: District 11 was reshaped to become a minority opportunity district. NJSpotlight said Republicans were likely to win, and PolitickerNJ said that the Asbury Park Press endorsement of Vin Gopal (D) may have increased his chances of election.[2][3]
  • District 16: District 16 was reshaped in 2011, moving its population center away from Somerset County. All of the Republican candidates (two incumbents and one challenger) were from the Somerset area. However, NJSpotlight noted that despite these changes and balanced partisan registration, the Democratic ticket remained relatively unfamiliar to voters.[2][3]

Candidates unopposed by a major party

2011 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

One incumbent (0.9%) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

  • 1 Republican incumbent (Dawn Addiego faced no November challenger

Addiego was slated to face Carl Lewis (D) in the general election but he was removed from the ballot over candidacy issues.

Primary challenges

Five incumbents faced competition in the June 7 primary.

The following 5 incumbents (3 Democrats, 2 Republicans) won their primaries:

Retiring incumbents

Four incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 36 (90%) ran for re-election. Of the 4 incumbents who did not run for re-election, 1 is a Democrat and 3 are Republicans.

Incumbents who retired are:

Incumbents displaced by redistricting

Seven incumbent senators were displaced by the 2011 redistricting process. Of the 7 displaced incumbents, 5 are Democrats and 2 are Republicans.

Incumbents who were displaced by redistricting:

  • District 2: Incumbent Democrat Clarence E. Phillips now resides in district 4.
  • District 10: Incumbent Democrat Ward Armstrong was moved to district 16. He decided to move to a residence in district 9, where he now seeks election.
  • District 11: Incumbent Democrat Sean Kean, who is now running for District 30 of the General Assembly.
  • District 12: Incumbent Republican Jennifer Beck now resides in district 11.
  • District 18: Incumbent Republican Clay Athey now resides in district 29.
  • District 35: Incumbent Democrat John Girgenti , who did not seek re-election.
  • District 87: Incumbent Democrat Paula Miller now resides in district 100.

Virginia State Senate elections, 2011

The following table shows the number of contested primaries in 2007 and 2011.

Comparing Contested Primaries in Past VA Senate Elections
Democrats Republicans Total
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Open contested 2 2 2 6 4 8
Incumbent contested 1 0 4 1 5 1
Total contested 3 2 6 7 9 9

Uncontested primaries

There are a total of 40 districts in the Virginia State Senate, meaning that normally there would be 80 primaries. However, some districts use a caucus or convention rather than a primary to decide which candidate to send to the general election. Seventeen out of the 80 potential primaries decided on a candidate this way, leaving 63 which used primaries. Of these 63 primaries, nine were contested (14.3%).

District without primaries

The following district/party combinations did not use a primary.

Democratic Party Democrats: Districts 7, 12, 13, 15, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 38, 39

Republican Party Republicans: Districts 6, 17, 25, 29, 38, 40

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Going into the November 2011 elections, the Republican Party was the majority party in 29 state senates. One chamber (Nebraska) is officially nonpartisan. In 19 states, the Democratic Party held the majority party. The Virginia State Senate was one of the 19 chambers with a Democratic Party majority.

In the other three states with state senate elections in 2011 (Louisiana, Mississippi and New Jersey), the Democratic Party held the majority party in New Jersey, while the Republican Party held the majority party in the state senates of Louisiana and Mississippi.

The partisan composition of the Virginia State Senate before and after the election:

Virginia State Senate
Party As of November 2011 After the 2011 Election
     Democratic Party 22 20
     Republican Party 18 20
Total 40 40

Races to watch

The following were noted as races to watch in the 2011 elections, based on expectations of impact on partisan control.


Candidates unopposed by a major party

2011 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

Fourteen incumbents (35%) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

  • 3 Democratic incumbents faced no November challenger.
  • 11 Republican incumbents faced no November challenger.

Primary challenges

One incumbent faced competition in the August 23 primary. That incumbent, Thomas Norment (R) defeated his challenger, Mark Frechette.

Retiring incumbents

Seven incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 33 (82.5%) ran for re-election. Of the seven incumbents who did not run for re-election, three were Democrats and four were Republicans.

Incumbents who retired were:

Incumbents displaced by redistricting

Two incumbent senators were displaced by the 2011 redistricting process. Of the two displaced incumbents, both were Republicans.

Incumbents who were displaced by redistricting:

Mississippi State Senate elections, 2011

See also: Ballotpedia news report on Mississippi primary competitiveness

As in 2007, roughly 2/3 of the state's major party candidates proceeded to the general election without a primary challenge. In addition, over 1/4 of possible primaries were not held since no candidate was running. Of the 75 party primaries, only 26 featured two or more candidates competing for the nomination. 29 party primaries were not held because no candidate was running.

Comparing Contested Primaries of past MS Senate Elections
Democrats Republicans Total
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Open Contested 7 5 5 10 12 15
Open Uncontested 9 7 6 8 15 15
Incumbent Contested 8 5 5 6 13 11
Incumbent Uncontested 15 17 18 15 33 32
No candidates 13 18 18 11 31 29
Total contested 15 10 10 16 25 26
Total uncontested 24 24 24 23 48 47
See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Going into the November 2011 elections, the Republican Party was the majority party in 29 state senates, including Mississippi. One chamber (Nebraska) is officially nonpartisan. In 19 states, the Democratic Party was the majority party.

In the other 3 states with state senate elections in 2011 (Louisiana, New Jersey and Virginia), the Democratic Party held the majority party in Virginia and New Jersey, while the Republican Party held the majority party in the Louisiana State Senate.

The partisan composition of the Mississippi State Senate before and after the election:

Mississippi State Senate
Party As of November 2011 After the 2011 Election
     Democratic Party 24 21
     Republican Party 27 31
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 52 52


Candidates unopposed by a major party

2011 state legislative elections analyzed using a Competitiveness Index

Nineteen incumbents (36.5%) faced no competition in the November 8 general election.

  • 9 Democratic incumbents faced no November challenger.
  • 10 Republican incumbents faced no November challenger

Four challengers face no competition in the November 8 general election. All 4 of those unopposed challengers are Republican.

Primary challenges

Ten incumbents faced competition in the August 2 primary. Incumbent Republican Doug Davis (District 1) was defeated by challenger Chris Massey, incumbent Republican Sidney Albritton (District 40) was defeated by challenger Angela Hill in a runoff election, incumbent Republican Ezell Lee (District 47) was defeated by challenger Tony Smith, and incumbent Republican Tommy Moffatt (District 52) was defeated by challenger Brice Wiggins.

The following 6 incumbents (4 Democrats, 2 Republicans) won their primaries:

Retiring incumbents

Nine incumbent senators did not run for re-election, while 43 (82.7%) ran for re-election. Of the 9 incumbents who did not run for re-election, 3 are Democrats and 6 are Republicans.

Incumbents who are retiring are:


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Asbury Park Press, "Race for Legislature is on," September 23, 2011
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 PolitickerNJ, "New Jersey Legislative Forecast," November 1, 2011
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 NJ Spotlight, "Election 2011: Where the Republicans Can Pick Up Assembly Seats," April 12, 2011
  4. ↑ Go Dan River, "TV time soaking up funds in Senate race," October 30, 2011
  5. ↑ WashingtonPost.com, "Virginia Senate hopeful Jeff Frederick, once cast out by GOP, now has its support," October 11, 2011
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