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2018 election analysis: State legislative supermajorities
Updated 12:00pm EST, November 13, 2018
This content is part of Ballotpedia's analysis of the 2018 midterm elections. For comprehensive election results, click here.
Four full state legislatures saw changes in their supermajority status—typically when one party controls either three-fifths or two-thirds of a chamber—as a result of the 2018 elections. Democrats attained supermajorities in three full state legislatures (both chambers)—California, Illinois, and Oregon.[1] This added to their existing four supermajorities, giving them seven total. Republicans, meanwhile, entered the night with 17 full state legislative supermajorities and lost one—North Carolina.
Eleven individual chambers changed supermajority status, including those that contributed to changes in California, Illinois, Oregon, and North Carolina. All of the changes favored Democrats.
Because of these changes, one party has a supermajority in 23 of 50 state legislatures, two more than the 21 supermajorities heading into the night.
Depending on the state, supermajorities can do anything from overriding gubernatorial vetoes to convicting impeached executive or judicial officials to passing constitutional amendments to raising taxes. Most of these special actions are only available if a party has a supermajority in both chambers.
| Change in state legislative supermajorities, 2018 elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supermajorities | Before | After | Net | |
| Democratic supermajorities |
4 | 7 | +3 | |
| Republican supermajorities |
17 | 16 | -1 | |
| Total | 21 | 23 | +2 | |
| Change in Democratic supermajority chambers, 2018 elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Before | After | ||
| California State Senate | No Supermajority | Supermajority | ||
| Connecticut State Senate | No Supermajority | Supermajority | ||
| Illinois House of Representatives | No Supermajority | Supermajority | ||
| Nevada State Assembly | No Supermajority | Supermajority | ||
| Oregon House of Representatives | No Supermajority | Supermajority[1] | ||
| Oregon State Senate | No Supermajority | Supermajority[1] | ||
| Change in Republican supermajority chambers, 2018 elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Before | After | ||
| Michigan State Senate | Supermajority | No Supermajority | ||
| North Carolina House of Representatives | Supermajority | No Supermajority | ||
| North Carolina State Senate | Supermajority | No Supermajority | ||
| Pennsylvania State Senate | Supermajority | No Supermajority | ||
| Texas State Senate | Supermajority | No Supermajority | ||
Supermajorities are most important when the other party controls the governorship. This creates more opportunities for supermajorities to override gubernatorial vetoes. A notable case in the last two years was North Carolina, where the Republican supermajority overrode a number of vetoes issued by Gov. Roy Cooper (D). Democrats had supermajorities in two states with Republican governors—Maryland and Massachusetts—but neither reached the same level of conflict as North Carolina.
In 2019, there will again be three states with supermajorities and governors from the opposite party. Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in North Carolina, but they won the gubernatorial election in Kansas, where a Republican state legislative supermajority already existed. Maryland and Massachusetts re-elected both their Republican governors—Larry Hogan (R-Md.) and Charlie Baker (R-Mass.)—and their Democratic supermajorities.
Although only four full state legislatures saw changes in their supermajority status, 11 individual chambers changed, all in Democrats' favor. Democrats won supermajorities in six new chambers and broke Republican supermajorities in five chambers. Some of these chambers have individual significance even though they were not part of a full state legislative supermajority. For example, the Republican supermajority in the Pennsylvania State Senate (broken by Democrats on election night) could have convicted state judges and ousted them from office if the Republican majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to impeach them.[2] This possibility was raised by some Republican state legislators after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state's congressional map redistricting was a Republican gerrymander and ordered it redrawn in February 2018.[3]
See also
- 2018 election analysis: State government trifectas
- 2018 election analysis: Partisan balance of state legislative chambers
- 2018 election analysis: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
- 2018 election analysis: Partisan balance of governors
- 2018 election analysis: State government triplexes
- 2018 election analysis: Control of the U.S. House
- 2018 election analysis: Control of the U.S. Senate
- 2018 election analysis: Was 2018 a wave election?
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Democrats won a three-fifths supermajority in Oregon, but not a two-thirds majority, which is the margin required to override gubernatorial vetoes. A three-fifths majority is able to raise taxes.
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Judicial Selection," accessed November 13, 2018
- ↑ NPR, "Pennsylvania Chief Justice Criticizes Impeachment Moves," March 22, 2018