Legislatures: just the facts.

• Position: STATESTATS - Table

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There are 7,382 elected members serving in our nation's 50 state legislatures. The number of legislators serving in each state varies dramatically, from New Hampshire's 400-seat House of Representatives to Alaska's 20-member Senate. On a national basis, partisan composition of the state legislatures is fairly even among Republicans and Democrats. After the November election in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, Republicans hold 3,314 seats while Democrats hold 3,988.

The number of women serving in legislatures has increased substantially over the years to 23 percent today.

The 2000 census revealed that the percentage of Americans reporting Hispanic heritage was roughly equal to the percentage of African-Americans at about 12.5 percent each. In state legislatures, however, only about 8 percent of legislators are African-American and about 3 percent are Latino.

Lawyers are still the largest occupational group in legislatures but they are an increasingly smaller percentage. Only about 15 percent of legislators are attorneys, down considerably from the mid-1970s when one-quarter of legislators were.

The average age of a state legislator is 53 and has declined slightly in recent years with the advent of term limits.

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2007 POST-ELECTION PARTISAN COMPOSITION OF STATE LEGISLATURES SENATE Total Indep State Seats Dem Rep Other Vacant Alabama 35 23 12 0 0 Alaska 20 9 11 0 0 Arizona 30 13 17 0 0 Arkansas 35 27 8 0 0 California 40 25 15 0 0 Colorado 35 20 15 0 0 Connecticut 36 24 12 0 0 Delaware 21 13 8 0 0 Florida 40 14 26 0 0 Georgia 56 22 34 0 0 Hawaii 25 21 4 0 0 Idaho 35 7 28 0 0 Illinois 59 37 22 0 0 Indiana 50 17 33 0 0 Iowa 50 30 20 0 0 Kansas 40 10 30 0 0 Kentucky 38 16 21 1 0 Louisiana 39 24 15 0 0 Maine 35 18 17 0 0 Maryland 47 33 14 0 0 Massachusetts 40 34 5 0 1 Michigan 38 17 21 0 0 Minnesota 67 44 23 0 0 Mississippi 52 28 24 0 0 Missouri 34 14 20 0 0 Montana 50 26 24 0 0 Nebraska 49 * * 49 Nevada 21 10 11 0 0 New Hampshire 24 14 10 0 0 New Jersey 40 23 17 0 0...