Republicans Are Weaker at the Local Level Than Before 2016

Gains in 2022 and 2024 Can't Undo the 2018 Losses

When Donald Trump entered the White House for the first time in 2017, Republicans were at an apex at the state level. With nearly 1,000 wins during the Obama years, the GOP held 32 state legislatures and 34 governorships. They held trifectas in half the states in the country.

While the GOP won nearly 60 state legislative seats in 2024 and nearly two dozen in 2022, this doesn’t make up for the losses endured from 2017 to 2021.

In January 2017, Republicans had 4,165 seats in state legislatures compared to the 4,107 seats they’ll hold next month.

That may not seem like much of a loss, but significant gains in a handful of states offset the overall losses.