Both parties will have fewer veto-proof majorities in state legislatures, as small shifts of seats across a few states in this month’s elections made the difference.
In 2025, 26 states will have supermajorities — in which one party has enough votes in both legislative chambers to override a veto — down from 29. Republicans will have 19, down one, and Democrats appear to have seven, two fewer than this year.
Democrats lost their supermajorities in Vermont and likely in New York, where the party looks likely to fall one seat short of a two-thirds majority.
States have differing thresholds for how many votes are needed to override a veto. A majority — 36 states including New York and Vermont — require a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
Seven states, including North Carolina, require a three-fifths vote, and six others set the threshold at a simple majority. Alaska requires a two-thirds vote from its combined legislative chambers.
Republicans lost their veto-proof majorities in Montana and North Carolina. But the party added one in South Carolina, taking a two-thirds majority in the Senate for the first time.
Democrats overcoming the GOP veto-proof majority in North Carolina is significant, as it should strengthen veto threats from Gov.-elect Josh Stein (D). Outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper (D) had all 30 of his vetoes overturned over the past two years, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
North Carolina Republicans, who could still overturn vetoes if a single Democrat joins them, passed legislation in the waning days of their supermajority to sharply limit the power of incoming Democratic executive branch officials.
While President-elect Trump swept the swing states and Republicans won total control of Congress, there is less change coming to state capitals. There wasn’t a red wave down ballot, but Republicans did flip control of the Michigan House and reached a tie in the Minnesota House. Meanwhile, Democrats made significant gains in Wisconsin thanks in part to court-ordered redrawn maps.
Republicans will likely control 57 chambers in 2025, the same number as before the election, while Democrats will hold 38, three fewer than the 41 they held before.
The results reflect a trend that has seen a smaller number of chambers flip control since 2012, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Over the last 125 years, an average of 11 to 12 chambers flipped in each two-year cycle. But recently, that number has been trending downward. Since 2012, the average number of flipped chambers has been eight or nine per cycle, and the three most recent elections had fewer than that: six flips in 2018, and just four in 2020 and 2022.