Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
State government trifectas
A state government trifecta is a term to describe single party government, when one political party holds three positions in a state's government. The following are variations of the term:
- Trifecta: One political party holds the governorship, a majority in the state senate, and a majority in the state house in a state's government.
- Trifecta plus: A trifecta and a working majority of the court siding with the political leaning of the party in power.[1]
- Trifecta with supermajority: A trifecta in which both legislative bodies have a supermajority, commonly defined as either 60 percent or two-thirds of seats held by a single party. Click here to read more about states with veto-proof supermajorities.[2]
There are currently trifectas or variations of them in 34 of the 50 states.
- 26
Republican - 8
Democratic[3]
Contents
Current state government trifectas
This map shows the 34 states that were under trifecta control as of March 2018.
| Trifecta status by state | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | Trifecta status | Year of last status change | |
| Alabama | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Alaska | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Arizona | Republican trifecta | 2009 | |
| Arkansas | Republican trifecta | 2015 | |
| California | Democratic trifecta | 2011 | |
| Colorado | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Connecticut | Democratic trifecta | 2011 | |
| Delaware | Democratic trifecta | 2009 | |
| Florida | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Georgia | Republican trifecta | 2005 | |
| Hawaii | Democratic trifecta | 2011 | |
| Idaho | Republican trifecta | 1995 | |
| Illinois | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Indiana | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Iowa | Republican trifecta | 2017 | |
| Kansas | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Kentucky | Republican trifecta | 2017 | |
| Louisiana | Divided government | 2016 | |
| Maine | Divided government | 2013 | |
| Maryland | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Massachusetts | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Michigan | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Minnesota | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Mississippi | Republican trifecta | 2012 | |
| Missouri | Republican trifecta | 2017 | |
| Montana | Divided government | 2005 | |
| Nebraska | Republican trifecta | 1999 | |
| Nevada | Divided government | 2017 | |
| New Hampshire | Republican trifecta | 2017 | |
| New Jersey | Democratic trifecta | 2018 | |
| New Mexico | Divided government | 2011 | |
| New York | Divided government | 2011 | |
| North Carolina | Divided government | 2017 | |
| North Dakota | Republican trifecta | 1995 | |
| Ohio | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Oklahoma | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Oregon | Democratic trifecta | 2013 | |
| Pennsylvania | Divided government | 2015 | |
| Rhode Island | Democratic trifecta | 2013 | |
| South Carolina | Republican trifecta | 2003 | |
| South Dakota | Republican trifecta | 1995 | |
| Tennessee | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Texas | Republican trifecta | 2003 | |
| Utah | Republican trifecta | 1985 | |
| Vermont | Divided government | 2017 | |
| Virginia | Divided government | 2014 | |
| Washington | Democratic trifecta | 2017 | |
| West Virginia | Republican trifecta | 2017 | |
| Wisconsin | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
| Wyoming | Republican trifecta | 2011 | |
Legislative chambers most likely to break a Republican trifecta
In order for a party to maintain its trifecta, it must continue to hold the governorship as well as majorities in both houses of the state legislature. As of February 2018, the Republican Party held 26 trifectas nationwide. The following table presents the eight trifectas that are most susceptible to being broken in the 2018 elections based on the number of seats that would need to be flipped by the Democratic Party. Since only one legislative chamber must be flipped in order for the party in power to lose a trifecta, this information is derived from the chamber in each state in which the Republican Party has the more narrow majority.
| Most vulnerable Republican trifectas (2018) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | Legislative chamber with slimmer majority | Number of seats that must be flipped | Republican trifecta since |
| Arizona | Arizona State Senate (17-13) | 2 | 2009 |
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire State Senate (14-10) | 2 | 2017 |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin State Senate (18-13) | 3 | 2010 |
| Florida | Florida State Senate (23-15) | 4 | 2011 |
| Iowa | Iowa State Senate (29-20) | 5 | 2017 |
| West Virginia | West Virginia State Senate (22-12) | 5 | 2017 |
| South Carolina | South Carolina State Senate (28-18) | 5 | 2002 |
| Texas | Texas State Senate (20-11) | 5 | 2003 |
Changes in 2017
Gubernatorial elections were held in New Jersey and Virginia in 2017.
In the state legislatures, elections were held for New Jersey State Senate, New Jersey General Assembly, and Virginia House of Delegates. Virginia did not hold any state Senate elections in 2017.
| Partisan control prior to the 2017 elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Senate | House | Governor | |
| New Jersey | Democratic | Democratic | Republican | |
| Virginia | Republican | Republican | Democratic | |
| Washington | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | |
| Partisan control after the 2017 elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Senate | House | Governor | |
| New Jersey | Democratic | Democratic | Democratic | |
| Virginia | Republican | Republican | Democratic | |
| Washington | Democratic | Democratic | Democratic | |
Election impact on trifecta status
- New Jersey: With Phil Murphy's (D) victory in the gubernatorial election, Democrats gained a trifecta in New Jersey by also maintaining their majorities in both legislative chambers. Heading into the general election, Democrats held a 24-16 majority in the state Senate. In the General Assembly, Democrats held a 52-28 majority heading into the election. Although there were a large number of districts contested by Democrats and Republicans, both chambers remained controlled by Democrats.
- Virginia: Virginia had the potential to become a Republican trifecta following the 2017 elections. Had Ed Gillespie (R) won the gubernatorial election, Republicans would have gained a trifecta in Virginia. Ralph Northam's (D) victory in the election meant that the state's trifecta status did not change. Heading into the general election, Republicans held a 66-34 majority in the state House. Democrats needed to gain 17 seats in order to take control of the chamber. Ballotpedia identified 13 races to watch in the Virginia House of Delegates elections: four Democratic seats and nine Republican seats.
- Washington: Special elections took place in the Washington State Senate and Washington House of Representatives on November 7, 2017, in order to address eight vacated seats between the two chambers. Democrats gained a trifecta by winning control of the state Senate. The vacated seats included five seats in the state Senate and three seats in the state House. The November 7 special elections had a higher profile than most state legislative special elections in 2017 because the majority control of the state Senate was at stake. The competitive nature of the Senate District 45 race afforded Democrats the opportunity to gain control of the chamber. Democrats gained effective control of the state Senate by winning the District 45 race. Democrats already had a numerical majority in the Senate. However, because Senator Tim Sheldon (D) caucuses with the GOP, Republicans had effective control of the chamber going into the election.
Changes in 2016
The 2016 election saw the Republican Party pick up four trifectas: Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire. Two states—Nevada and North Carolina—changed from Republican trifectas to divided governments, while one state—Vermont—changed from a Democratic trifecta to divided government.
The 2017 state legislative sessions began with six Democratic trifectas, 25 Republican trifectas, and 19 states under divided government. Following the switch of Gov. Jim Justice (WV) from Democratic to Republican on August 3, 2017, those numbers became 26 Republican trifectas and 18 states under divided government.
Current status
The following maps display current state government trifectas as well as historical trifectas leading up to the 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 elections. Use the buttons on the left to select a map. A pending trifecta means that a trifecta was gained as a result of an election, but the winners have not yet been sworn in to create that trifecta.
See also
- Gubernatorial and legislative party control of state government
- Historical and potential changes in trifectas
- Who Runs the States Project
- State legislative elections, 2018
- State legislative elections, 2017
- State legislative elections, 2016
- State legislative elections, 2015
- State legislative elections, 2014
- State legislative elections, 2013
- State legislative elections, 2012
- State legislative elections, 2010
- Gubernatorial elections, 2018
- Gubernatorial elections, 2017
- Gubernatorial elections, 2016
- Gubernatorial elections, 2015
- Gubernatorial elections, 2014
- Gubernatorial elections, 2013
- Gubernatorial elections, 2012
- Gubernatorial elections, 2010
Footnotes
- ↑ A trifecta plus for the Democratic Party is a state with a trifecta and a working majority of the state's high court that tends to support progressive jurisprudence. A trifecta plus for the Republican Party is a state with a trifecta and a working majority of the state's high court that tends to support conservative or libertarian jurisprudence.
- ↑ A trifecta with a supermajority increases the odds of a party passing new bills with only token opposition from the minority party.
- ↑ Includes Connecticut where Democrats control the Senate through tie-breaking votes.
