State legislative term limits analysis
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In 2019, 47 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. Louisiana was the only state holding elections for a term-limited legislature in 2019.

Of the 15 state legislatures with term limits, Louisiana is the only state where term limits were imposed by the state’s lawmakers, rather than through the ballot initiative process. Under Louisiana’s term limits, state lawmakers can serve no more than three four-year terms. The state’s term limits law was enacted in 1995. The first year that term limits impacted the ability of incumbents to run for office was in 2007.

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2019 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

State senators

See also: Louisiana State Senate elections, 2019

There were 16 state senators ineligible to run for re-election in 2019 because of term limit laws in Louisiana. This represented 41.0% of the 39 Louisiana State Senate seats up for election in November 2019. This included:

Democrats (4):

• Jean-Paul J. Morrell
• Yvonne Colomb
• Eric LaFleur
• Francis C. Thompson

Republicans (12):

• John Alario
• Conrad Appel
• Daniel Martiny
• Jack Donahue
• Dale M. Erdey
• Dan Morrish
• John R. Smith
• Gerald Long
• Neil Riser
• Mike Walsworth
• Dan Claitor
• Norby Chabert

State representatives

See also: Louisiana House of Representatives elections, 2019

There were 31 state representatives ineligible to run for re-election in 2019 because of term limit laws in Louisiana. This represented 29.5% of the 105 Louisiana House of Representatives seats up for election in November 2019. This included:

Democrats (13):

• John Anders
• Barbara Norton
• Robert Johnson
• James Armes
• Dorothy Hill
• Albert Franklin
• H. Bernard LeBas
• Sam Jones
• Jerry Gisclair
• Patricia Haynes Smith
• Robert Billiot
• Walt Leger III
• Neil Abramson

Republicans (17):

• James Morris
• Thomas Carmody, Jr.
• Frank Hoffmann
• Charles Chaney
• Frank Howard
• Nancy Landry
• John Guinn
• Taylor Barras
• Stephen Carter
• Franklin Foil
• J. Rogers Pope
• Stephen Pugh
• Scott Simon
• J. Kevin Pearson
• Kirk Talbot
• Cameron Henry
• Patrick Connick

Independent (1):

• Jerome Richard

Year-to-year comparisons

Overview

The table below displays the term-limited state legislators by year from 2010 to 2019. A total of 1,461 state legislators were term-limited from 2010 to 2019. During that same period of time, Republicans had 141 state legislators more than Democrats ineligible to run for office because of term limits.

• Democratic legislators term-limited: 635
• Republican legislators term-limited: 776
• Nonpartisan legislators term-limited: 50

Term-limited state legislators by year
Year	Dem. senators	Rep. senators	Nonpartisan sentators	Dem. representatives	Rep. representatives	Nonpartisan representatives	Total term-limited
2019	4	12	0	13	17	1	47
2018	28	62	6	58	115	2	271
2017	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016	29	26	12	84	102	0	253
2015	3	4	0	7	7	0	21
2014	22	24	17	73	87	0	223
2013	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2012	35	40	8	87	85	0	255
2011	5	1	0	5	4	1	16
2010	54	66	1	128	124	2	375
Total	180	235	44	455	541	6	1,461

2019

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2019

In 2019, 47 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. Louisiana was the only state holding elections for a term-limited legislature in 2019.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2019 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

2018

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2018

In 2018, 271 state legislators were termed out in state senates and state houses combined. A total of 96 state senators were term-limited in 2018. A total of 175 state representatives were termed out in 2018.

As a result of term limits in the 2018 state legislative elections, more Republican legislators were ineligible to run than Democratic legislators.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2018 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

Chambers

The following table detailed the number of chambers where one party lost more incumbents due to term limits in 2018.

Post-election results

Thirty-five of the 271 term-limited seats (12.9%) changed partisan control in the 2018 elections. Democrats had a net gain of 15 seats and Republicans had a net loss of 13 seats. Ten seats switched from Democrat to Republican, 23 seats flipped from Republican to Democrat, and two seats changed from independent to Democrat.^[2]

Nebraska senators are officially nonpartisan. Five Nebraska senators term-limited in 2018 were affiliated with the Republican Party, while the other was affiliated with the Democratic Party. The Nebraska senators were counted as major party incumbents in the post-election results.

2017

No states with term limits held elections in 2017.

2016

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2016

In 2016, 253 state legislators were termed out in state senates and state houses combined. A total of 67 state senators were termed out in 2016. This represented 20.2 percent of the 331 total state senate seats up for election in the 13 term-limited state senates with elections in November 2016. A total of 186 state representatives were termed out. This represented 14.8 percent of the 1,261 total seats up for election in the 13 term-limited state houses with elections in November 2016.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2016 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

Chambers

The following table detailed the number of chambers where one party lost more incumbents due to term limits in 2016.

2015

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2015

In 2015, 21 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. Louisiana was the only state holding elections for a term-limited legislature in 2015.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2015 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

2014

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2014

In 2014, a total of 223 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. This was 14 percent of the 1,592 state legislative seats up for election in the 14 term-limited states with 2014 elections, and 3.7 percent of the 6,047 state legislative seats that were up for election altogether in 2014, including the non-term-limited states.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2014 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

Chambers

The following table detailed the number of chambers where one party lost more incumbents due to term limits in 2014.

2013

No states with term limits held elections in 2013.

2012

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2012

In 2012, 255 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. This was 14.3 percent of the 1,786 state legislative seats up for election in the 14 term-limited states with 2012 elections, and about 4 percent of the 6,015 state legislative seats that were up for election altogether in 2012, including the non-term-limited states.

In 2012, the last election cycle in which the same seats were up for election as 2016, Republicans had a marginal disadvantage in terms of the number incumbents lost to term limits as well as the number of chambers in which each party saw more members lost to term limits. However, Democrats lost one more state representative than Republicans did during this cycle.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2012 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

Chambers

The following table detailed the number of chambers where one party lost more incumbents due to term limits in 2012.

2011

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2011

In 2011, 16 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. Louisiana was the only state with term limits that held an election in 2011. The 16 state legislators termed-out in 2011 made up 10.4 percent of the total legislative seats up for election in Louisiana.

There were six state senators termed-out in 2011, making up 15.4 percent of the 39 state senate seats up for election in 2011. There were ten state representatives termed-out in 2011, making up 9.5 percent of the 105 state representative seats up for election in 2011.

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2011 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

2010

See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2010

In 2010, 375 state legislators were ineligible to run for office because of term limits. This was 23 percent of the 1,600 state legislative seats up for election in the 14 term-limited states with 2010 elections.

The Republican Party had more members impacted by term limits in the 2010 state legislative elections than the Democratic Party, both in terms of how many individual incumbent legislators the Republican Party lost (190, versus 182 for the Democratic Party) and in terms of how many state legislative chambers lost more Republicans (13, versus 10 for the Democratic Party).

Incumbents

The following table detailed the number of state legislators unable to run for re-election in 2010 due to term limits broken down by party and chamber.

Chambers

The following table detailed the number of chambers where one party lost more incumbents due to term limits in 2010.

See also

• Competitiveness reports: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
• State legislatures with term limits
• State legislative elections, 2019
• Term limits on the ballot
• Term limits in the United States

Footnotes

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