Three states are holding gubernatorial elections in 2023, and four states are holding regularly scheduled legislative elections in eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers. As a result, five states’ trifecta status is at stake this year:
- Mississippi—one of 22 states with a Republican trifecta,
- New Jersey—one of 17 states with a Democratic trifecta, and
- Kentucky, Louisiana, and Virginia—three of 11 states with divided government.
A state government trifecta occurs when one party holds the governorship and majorities in both state legislative chambers. Ballotpedia’s annual trifecta vulnerability ratings estimate the chances of trifectas breaking and forming. Our assessment of gubernatorial races is based on race ratings from the Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections. For legislative races, we use the absolute number of seats and the proportion of seats that would need to change control. Both chambers in a state’s legislature are evaluated individually.
