State Lower Houses

Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut •Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming

The term lower house refers to one of two state legislative chambers in a bicameral legislature. Forty-nine of the fifty states have a bicameral legislature and a lower house, with the only exclusion being Nebraska, which has a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.

Nebraska operated under a bicameral system until 1934, when voters approved a constitutional amendment to consolidate the two houses. No other state has seriously considered a unicameral system, although during his term as governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura argued for one.^[1]

Overview

Lower houses have a greater number of members than upper houses, and members tend to have shorter terms than upper house members. They also vary from state to state in a number of ways, including:

• Term length - two years or four years
• Session length - part-time or full time
• Term limits - some states limit the number of terms members can serve, most do not
• Number of legislators - the number of lower house members per states varies from 40 to 400
• Salary - annual salaries vary from none at all up to $95,291 per year
• Number of residents represented - out of all state houses, California's assembly members represent the most residents - 465,674 per representative, while New Hampshire representatives represent the fewest - 3,291 residents per representative.

History

Partisan Control, 1992-2013

1992-2013

Praise or blame is extended to political parties for the economic, educational, health and other quality of life outcomes that result from the policies those parties enact into law. To better understand which political party enjoys power in each of the states, Ballotpedia has analyzed state government control from 1992-2013 using the concept of a "partisan trifecta." A partisan trifecta is defined as when a state's governorship and legislative chambers are controlled by the same political party.

The two major political parties claim that their policies will lead to better outcomes. What does the data show?

At Ballotpedia, we explored these issues in a three-part study, Who Runs the States.

Part 1: Partisanship

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Partisanship Results, Partisan Control of State Houses

We identified the party holding each state's lower legislative chamber for the majority of time in each year from 1992 through 2013. Across the 49 states (excluding Nebraska) with lower houses, there were 577 years (53.5%) of Democratic control and 483 years (44.8%) of Republican control.

The trifecta analysis over this period shows a notable trend toward one-party control of state governments. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 states had trifectas while 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states had divided governments, while single-party trifectas hold sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years we studied. The number of states with trifectas doubled between 1992 and 2013.

The trifecta analysis also allowed us to identify seven states that have experienced dramatic changes in partisan state government control from the first 11 years of the study to the last 11 years of the study. Studying the partisan composition of state governments as we do also allows a clean way to assess whether a state is "moving red" or "moving blue."

Visualizations

Legend for State government trifecta visualization -- Figures 10 and 11

Figure 10: Visualization of Trifectas from 1992-2013 -- Alabama-Missouri

Figure 11: Visualization of Trifectas from 1992-2013 -- Montana-Wyoming

Legend for State government visualization with Presidential Voting -- Figures 19 and 20

Figure 19: Visualization of State Partisanship (with Presidential voting) from 1992-2013 -- Alabama-Missouri

Figure 20: Visualization of State Partisanship (with Presidential voting) from 1992-2013 -- Montana-Wyoming

Infographic

Infographic of Partisanship Results
This infographic was created by Attwood Digital

Comparison of state lower houses

State-by-state session details

Alaska House of Representatives

Arizona House of Representatives

Alabama House of Representatives

Arkansas House of Representatives

California State Assembly

Colorado House of Representatives

Connecticut House of Representatives

Delaware House of Representatives

Florida House of Representatives

Georgia House of Representatives

Hawaii House of Representatives

Idaho House of Representatives

Illinois House of Representatives

Indiana House of Representatives

Iowa House of Representatives

Kansas House of Representatives

Kentucky House of Representatives

Louisiana House of Representatives

Maryland House of Delegates

Massachusetts House of Representatives

Michigan House of Representatives

Minnesota House of Representatives

Mississippi House of Representatives

Montana House of Representatives

New Hampshire House of Representatives

New Jersey General Assembly

New Mexico House of Representatives

New York State Assembly

North Carolina House of Representatives

North Dakota House of Representatives

Ohio House of Representatives

Oklahoma House of Representatives

Oregon House of Representatives

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Rhode Island House of Representatives

South Carolina House of Representatives

South Dakota House of Representatives

Texas House of Representatives

Utah House of Representatives

Vermont House of Representatives

Virginia House of Delegates

West Virginia House of Delegates

Wisconsin State Assembly

Wyoming House of Representatives

Washington House of Representatives

Maine House of Representatives

Missouri House of Representatives

Nevada State Assembly

Tennessee House of Representatives

Footnotes

v • e State legislatures Legislatures Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S) 2024 State legislative elections (2024) • State legislative special elections (2024) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2024 Session Dates 2023 State legislative elections (2023) • State legislative special elections (2023) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2023 Session Dates Historical elections 2022 •  2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000 Features of state legislatures How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections State senates Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected State houses Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected Leadership positions President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House