2016 Election Results: The Works
Contact: Kristen Vonasek, Director of Communications
Tel: (608) 255-0688
E-mail: Kristen.Vonasek@Ballotpedia.org
Find out what happened in elections across the country.
Middleton, Wis. - November 11, 2016: Ballotpedia has compiled the results of the thousands of elections, up and down the ballot, that took place on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. From the vote totals of a local school board race to a big-picture look at presidential voting trends in trifecta states, Ballotpedia presents an expansive collection of data that can help readers find detailed answers to their election questions.
Highlights of Ballotpedia’s election coverage can be found here: Election results, 2016
Full results, sorted by state, can be found here: Links to all election results, 2016
As a result of over 18 months of 2016 election research, Ballotpedia developed a list of topics and trends that stood out this cycle. The results of that research can be found here: Election analysis
Federal elections
Trump wins White House as “Blue Wall” crumbles
Election analyst Jim Barnes shares his report on the presidential election.
State trifectas and the 2016 presidential vote
Why did so many "blue states" vote for a Republican candidate? The answer might lie in the status of trifectas—a term to describe "single party government," when one political party holds three positions of power in a state's government.
What happened in Congress?
Republicans put up strong results in both the Senate and the House in 2016. Republicans maintained their Senate majority by a surprisingly large margin, likely only losing two seats.
State elections
2016 ballot measures
A total of 154 statewide measures appeared on ballots across 34 states. Of those, 71 were citizen initiatives, rather than referrals from state legislatures. Topics included marijuana, minimum wage, healthcare, and gun laws.
State legislatures
Six chambers flipped control after the November 2016 elections. Republicans gained majorities in the Iowa State Senate, Kentucky House of Representatives, and Minnesota State Senate. Democrats were able to flip the Nevada State Senate, Nevada State Assembly, and New Mexico House of Representatives.
Gubernatorial elections
Republicans scored victories in six of the 12 states that held gubernatorial elections, while Democrats won five governor's races. One race is still too close to call.
Trifectas
The number of states where one party is in control of the state house, state senate, and governor’s mansion changed as a result of the 2016 elections. There will now be 25 Republican trifectas and six Democratic trifectas, compared to 23 Republican and seven Democratic trifectas before the elections.
Local elections
Results of the top municipal elections
Ballotpedia covered 33 elections in America’s largest 100 cities by population, as well as local elections taking place in 12 large counties. Some of these elections garnered national media attention and the results have implications for future governance.
Sixty-three candidates for seven seats: An overview of November's top school board elections
This year, 428 of America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections. Five of these districts were identified by Ballotpedia as exemplifying the complex nature of school board elections.
About Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is the online encyclopedia of American politics and elections. Its goal is to inform people about politics by providing exceptionally high-quality, accurate, and objective information about local, state, and federal politics and policies. Its content includes neutral, accurate, and verifiable information on government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, candidates, and the influencers of politics. Headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, Ballotpedia was founded in 2006. It has grown to include over 250,000 professionally authored encyclopedic articles that have garnered over 600 million page views.
If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Ballotpedia's Director of Communications at Kristen.Vonasek@Ballotpedia.org.
