2017 United States elections

2017 United States elections

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Election day	November 7
Senate elections
Seats contested	1 mid-term vacancy
Net seat change	Democratic +1
Map of the 2017 Senate special elections      Democratic gain (1)
House elections
Seats contested	6 mid-term vacancies
Net seat change	0
Map of the 2017 House special elections      Democratic hold (1)      Republican hold (5)
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	2
Net seat change	Democratic +1
Map of the 2017 gubernatorial races      Democratic hold (1)      Democratic gain (1)

The 2017 United States elections were held, in large part, on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. This off-year election featured gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as state legislative elections in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the Virginia House of Delegates (the lower house of the Virginia legislature). Numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local elections also occurred. Special elections were also held for one seat of the U.S. Senate, representing Alabama, and six seats of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Democrats picked up the governorship in New Jersey and the Alabama Senate seat that was up for a special election. The governorship in Virginia and the six House seats that were up for special elections did not change party hands.

Analysts such as Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight and Chris Cillizza of CNN interpreted the 2017 election results overall as demonstrating a move toward the Democratic Party. With the Democrats picking up the Senate seat in Alabama, it reduced the Republicans' majority in the Senate to 51–49. The analysts also noted that although none of five House seats held by a Republican switched to the other party in the 2017 special elections, in each race the Democrat received a higher percentage of votes than in recent elections for the same seat. Furthermore, Democrats made large gains in the Virginia House of Delegates, and picked up 42 seats in state legislatures.^[1][2]