Democrats take Georgia House control as Republicans retain state Senate

At least 12 chambers shift; at least six state trifectas await new officials

The Associated Press, which has been calling elections since 1848, determined on Monday that it had called enough Georgia House races to declare that Democrats had won the lower chamber. Republicans kept control of the state Senate, leaving Democrats with the House and the governor’s office and Republicans with the Senate after Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship last week.

The result breaks up two decades of full Republican control of Georgia’s state government. Republicans have controlled the House since 2005 and both the Senate and the governor’s office since 2003, and Democrats now hold the House and the governor’s office for the first time in more than 20 years.

Democrats have made gains in Georgia across successive elections. Joe Biden narrowly won a plurality in the state’s 2020 presidential election, Democrats prevailed in both U.S. Senate elections that year, and Donald Trump won the state in both 2016 and 2024.

As of Monday, Democrats had won 91 Georgia House seats and Republicans 86. Three races had not been called, including one in which Georgia’s secretary of state was investigating the late upload of a memory card containing nearly 400 votes. Republicans had held a 99-80 majority in the House heading into the election.

With Republicans holding the Senate, the resulting split government will likely block Democrats from passing some laws while opening many topics to negotiations, the Associated Press said.

Control of the chambers in two other states remained unsettled on Monday. In North Carolina, Democrats have taken the House and kept the governor’s office, where Josh Stein’s term has two more years. As of Monday, the Associated Press had not called one race in the state Senate: if the GOP holds it, the party would have a 26-24 majority, while a Democratic victory would mean a tie, with Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, a Democrat, holding the tiebreaking vote.

In Alaska, both legislative chambers are currently controlled by multiparty coalitions. With several races not called, it is unclear how control will shake out for 2027, and the Associated Press had also not called the governor’s race between Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Republican Bernadette Wilson.

The Georgia flip came amid Democratic gains at all levels, including control of at least 12 new legislative chambers across the United States. The Associated Press called that the biggest gain for either party in a single election since Republicans took the majority in 20 chambers in 2010 amid the Great Recession and the rise of the conservative tea party movement.

Once officials are sworn in later in 2026 and early 2027, Democrats will have trifectas — control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office — in at least six states where they currently share power with Republicans. Election gains in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will give Democrats trifectas in all six states.

The Associated Press said a party running a state government can have a major impact on issues including tax bills, how data center development goes and who qualifies for Medicaid health insurance.

There are Republican governors in 26 states and Democratic governors in 24. Democrats will have at least 28 of those jobs next year, with the race in Kansas still to be called.

Democrats gained control of four more state Senates in Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, bringing the total they lead to 24. They will hold the majority in at least 27 lower chambers, up from 19, after flips in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

Beyond Georgia’s lower chamber, which the Associated Press called for Democrats, races remained uncalled in the North Carolina Senate, both Alaska chambers, Alaska’s governor’s race and Kansas’s governor’s race, along with three Georgia House races.