The 2011 United States elections were held (for the most part) on Tuesday, November 8. This was an off-year election, in which the only seats up for election in the United States Congress were special elections. There were also four gubernatorial races, including a special election in West Virginia. There were also state legislative elections in four states and judicial elections in three states; as well as numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local offices on the ballot.
Federal elections
Congressional elections
No regularly scheduled elections for the United States Congress occurred in 2011, and instead only four special elections were held. Eventually, there was no net seat changes by the political parties.
California's 36th district: Democrat Jane Harman resigned from office. Democrat Janice Hahn was elected on July 12 to replace Harman. Nevada's 2nd district: Republican Representative Dean Heller was appointed to replace John Ensign after the latter resigned from his seat in the U.S. Senate. Republican Mark Amodei was elected on September 13 to replace Heller. New York's 26th district: Republican Chris Lee resigned from office. Democrat Kathy Hochul was elected on May 24 to replace Lee. New York's 9th district: Democrat Anthony Weiner resigned from office. Republican Bob Turner was elected on September 13 to replace Weiner.
In addition, a primary election was held in Oregon's 1st congressional district on November 8, for the seat left open after the resignation of David Wu; the special election for this seat then occurred on January 31, 2012. Democrat Suzanne Bonamici was elected on that date to replace Wu.
State elections
Gubernatorial elections
There were three regularly scheduled elections and one special election for governorships in 2011. None of these four changed party hands.
Kentucky: Incumbent Democratic Governor Steve Beshear was re-elected. Louisiana: Incumbent Republican Governor Bobby Jindal was re-elected on October 22, when all candidates competed in an open jungle primary. Mississippi: Incumbent Republican Governor Haley Barbour was term limited out of office. Republican Phil Bryant was elected to succeed him. West Virginia: A special election was held on October 4, following the resignation of Democrat Joe Manchin, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin, President of the West Virginia Senate and Acting Governor, was elected to replace Manchin.
Other statewide elections
In the first three of the aforementioned states, elections for state executive branch offices of Lieutenant Governor (in a separate election in Louisiana and Mississippi and on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee in Kentucky), Secretary of state, state Treasurer, state Auditor, state Attorney General, and Commissioners of Insurance and Agriculture were held. In addition, there were elections for Kentucky and Mississippi's state appellate courts, respectively.
State and territorial legislative elections
Four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia – and one U.S. territory, the Northern Mariana Islands, elected their state or territorial legislators in 2011.
These were the first elections to be affected by redistricting after the 2010 census. Additionally, the first wave of recall elections occurred in Wisconsin, while Republicans lost seats, they maintained a narrow majority. A second wave would occur in 2012.
Republicans flipped control of the Virginia Senate, thereby establishing a trifecta. In Mississippi, Republicans won the state House for the first time since 1876, and solidified control of the state Senate after several Democrats switched parties earlier in the year, giving Republicans control of the chamber. Republicans obtained a trifecta in the state for the first time since 1876 as a result. In Louisiana, Republicans solidified control of both houses of the legislature after several Democrats switched parties at the beginning of the year, which gave Republicans control of both chambers and a trifecta for the first time since 1873.
Initiatives and referendums
Nine states, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Washington state, had measures certified for the 2011 ballot. Among those that attracted the most attention were an Ohio referendum that repealed legislation that limits collective bargaining for public employees, and a failed constitutional amendment in Mississippi that would have defined "personhood" as beginning at the fertilization of an embryo.