Election results, 2016
Republicans claimed major victories at the federal level on November 8, 2016, winning the presidency and maintaining control of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
Real estate investor Donald Trump (R) outperformed most conventional polls and election models to defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D). Key to Trump's success were his Rust Belt wins in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which cut through the blue wall created in the past six presidential elections.
Although Democrats picked up two seats in the U.S. Senate, Republicans retained control of the chamber with a 52-48 majority. Republicans also performed well in the U.S. House, losing only a net six seats to secure a 241-194 majority.
There were 5,923 seats up for election in 86 state legislative chambers. As a result of the election, partisan control flipped in seven chambers and the number of Republican state government trifectas increased from 23 to 25 in the 2017 legislative session.
Republicans took new control of gubernatorial offices in Missouri, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Democrats won the gubernatorial seat in North Carolina.
The November 2016 elections resulted in 31 state government trifectas: 25 Republican and six Democratic.[1]
Ballot efforts to increase the minimum wage and legalize medical and recreational marijuana were successful in several states, while electors in all three states featuring death penalty-related measures voted in favor of the death penalty and against efforts to repeal it.
In total, Ballotpedia tracked more than 160 ballot measures and 15,000 candidates in thousands of different races. For links to all election results, click here.
The following spreadsheet compiles data on election results for a variety of federal, state, and local races held on November 8, 2016:
For further election analysis, see: Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2016
Presidency
Donald Trump (R) won the general election, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D), former Gov. Gary Johnson (L), and Jill Stein (L).
Ballotpedia identified the 12 states and two congressional districts that decided the outcome of the presidential election:
In 2012, incumbent Obama defeated former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), winning 26 states and Washington, D.C., to secure 332 electoral votes and 51.1 percent of the popular vote.
U.S. Senate
Elections were held for 34 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats in 2016.
Control of the Senate was up for grabs. In order to take the chamber back, Democrats needed to gain five seats in 2016, but they fell short, picking up only two seats. Although the majority of seats up for election were held by Republican incumbents, many of whom were freshmen who were swept into office in the Tea Party wave of 2010, they proved to be far less vulnerable than predicted.
Ballotpedia predicted that only nine of these races would be competitive in the general election:
U.S. House
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election.
Despite losing several seats in the chamber, the Republican Party had a strong night in the House. Republicans preserved their majority and only lost a net six seats, resulting in a 241-194 majority.
Ballotpedia identified the 23 most competitive House races:
- Arizona's 1st
- California's 7th
- California's 25th
- California's 49th
- Colorado's 6th
- Florida's 7th
- Florida's 18th
- Florida's 26th
- Illinois' 10th
- Iowa's 1st
- Maine's 2nd
- Michigan's 1st
- Minnesota's 2nd
- Nebraska's 2nd
- Nevada's 3rd
- Nevada's 4th
- New Hampshire's 1st
- New Jersey's 5th
- New York's 19th
- New York's 22nd
- Pennsylvania's 8th
- Texas' 23rd
- Virginia's 10th
State executive offices
Governors
- See also: Gubernatorial elections, 2016
Twelve states held gubernatorial elections:
As a result of the election, Republicans took new control of gubernatorial offices in Missouri, New Hampshire, and Vermont, while retaining their gubernatorial seats in Indiana, North Dakota and Utah. Democrats won the gubernatorial seat in North Carolina.
Lieutenant governors
- See also: Lieutenant gubernatorial elections, 2016
Nine states held elections for lieutenant governor in 2016, including four states in which the position is elected on a joint ticket with the governor: Indiana, Montana, North Dakota and Utah. In all four of those states, the party of the winning ticket determined the trifecta status of the state. None of those states experienced a change in partisan control of the governorship or lieutenant governorship. One lieutenant governorship changed party hands in 2016—Democrat Bethany Hall-Long won Vermont's seat after incumbent Phillip Scott (R) declined to seek re-election.
The nine states were:
Secretaries of state
- See also: Secretary of State elections, 2016
Eight states held elections for secretary of state:
Five of the eight secretary of state seats up for election in 2016 changed hands, with a net gain of three seats for Republicans. The GOP picked up seats in open elections in Missouri, Montana, and Oregon, and unseated the incumbent Democrat in West Virginia. The win in Oregon was a significant victory for the party as the state was under Democratic trifecta control going into the election, and the seat had not been held by a Republican since 1980.
Democrats picked up the open seat in New Mexico, which held a special election after the mid-term resignation of incumbent Dianna Duran (R) due to criminal charges. At the time her election in 2010, Duran was the first Republican to win the seat in New Mexico since 1930.
Attorneys general
- See also: Attorney General elections, 2016
Ten states held elections for attorney general:
Only one seat changed party hands in 2016—Republican Josh Hawley won the open seat in Missouri, which was previously under Democratic control.
State legislatures
On election night, 86 of the total 99 state legislative chambers held elections. Across all state legislative chambers, Republicans held control of 68 while Democrats held majorities in 30 chambers. Although technically nonpartisan, the Nebraska State Senate is controlled by a Republican majority.[2]
Ballotpedia identified 20 battleground chambers to watch across 13 states:
Chambers that flipped
Seven chambers flipped control after the November 2016 elections.
| State | Pre-election party in power | Post-election party in power |
|---|---|---|
| Iowa State Senate |  |
|
| Kentucky House of Representatives | |
|
| Minnesota State Senate | |
|
| Nevada State Senate | |
|
| Nevada State Assembly | |
|
| New Mexico House of Representatives | |
|
| Alaska House of Representatives[3] | |
|
Trifectas
- See also: State government trifectas
Prior to the election, there were 7 Democratic and 23 Republican state government trifectas. A trifecta occurs when one political party holds these three positions in a state's government:
- The governorship
- A majority in the state senate
- A majority in the state house
Heading into the 2016 elections, Republicans had trifecta control of state government in four of the 12 states holding gubernatorial elections: Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Utah. Democrats had trifecta control in three states: Delaware, Vermont, and Oregon.
As a result of the November 2016 elections, there were 31 state government trifectas going into the 2017 state legislative sessions.
- 25 Republican
- 6 Democratic[4]
State courts
- See also: State supreme court elections, 2016
Thirty-two (32) states held supreme court elections for 76 seats in 2016. The exact number of seats up for election in each state changed over the course of the year, as new judges were appointed and filing deadlines passed.
In 2016:
- Three states held partisan elections for 11 seats.
- Sixteen states held nonpartisan elections for 32 seats.
- Twelve states held retention elections for 31 seats.
- One state (N.M.) held both a retention election and a partisan election for two seats.
Mayors
- See also: United States municipal elections, 2016
There were 25 mayorships up for election in 2016:
- Bakersfield, California
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Chesapeake, Virginia
- Corpus Christi, Texas
- Fremont, California
- Fresno, California
- Gilbert, Arizona
- Glendale, Arizona
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Irvine, California
- Lubbock, Texas
- Mesa, Arizona
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Norfolk, Virginia
- Portland, Oregon
- Riverside, California
- Sacramento, California
- San Diego, California
- Santa Ana, California
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Stockton, California
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Of the mayors who were serving in those offices, 12 were Republican, 11 were Democratic, one was nonpartisan, and one was of unknown affiliation. These positions accounted for 44.4 percent of all Republican mayors, 16.4 percent of Democratic mayors, 33.3 percent of nonpartisan mayors, and 33.3 percent of unknown mayors in America's 100 largest cities.
Footnotes
- ↑ Includes Connecticut where Democrats control the Senate through tie-breaking votes.
- ↑ Note: Although the Nebraska State Senate elects its members in nonpartisan elections, members of the chamber generally function along party lines when it comes to voting and caucusing. Please see Nebraska State Senate partisan affiliation for more information.
- ↑ A coalition between House Democrats, three Republican representatives, and two independent representatives gave effective control of the chamber to Democrats.
- ↑ Includes Connecticut where Democrats control the Senate through tie-breaking votes.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2016
- Elections
- Election results: 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010
- Elections by state and year
- State Poll Opening and Closing Times
