The changes are historic: Pennsylvania voters elected a Democratic majority in the state Senate for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president. Democrats in Texas will run the state House for the first time in 24 years. And the Georgia House will have a Democratic majority for the first time in more than 20 years.

Going into the midterms, Republicans controlled legislatures in 28 states and Democrats held 18, with a few divided. Now, with some votes still being counted, Democrats are likely to hold a 24-to-22 lead, with the remaining states divided, according to Ballotpedia.

Democrats picked up seats in nearly every state that held legislative elections, including significant gains in reliably Republican states like Texas, Utah, and Florida.

The Republican State Legislative Committee, which coordinates support for GOP candidates, blamed the losses on a national anti-incumbent mood and heavy spending by Democrats. "Ultimately, the results of this cycle underscore both the challenges Republicans face and the importance of maintaining a strong, sustained presence in the states," the group's president, Edith Jorge-Tuñón, wrote in a memo.

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said their wins "proved what is possible when you put statehouses at the center of a national strategy."

The shift could mean real change in people's lives as legislatures rewrite laws on taxes, reproductive rights, access to health care, school funding, and other issues. State legislatures have also been important in promoting or blocking President Trump's agenda.

Some of the biggest changes could come in states where Democrats now control both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office. They gained six new "trifectas," bringing the total to 22, compared with 17 for Republicans, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ten other states are divided.

In Arizona, Democrats will have majorities in the state House and Senate and hold the governor's office for the first time since 1966. Gov. Katie Hobbs has repeatedly tried to reform and limit the state's billion-dollar voucher program, which provides public money for private school tuition regardless of family income, but the Republican-run legislature had blocked her. Arizona Democrats have also said they hope to provide financial relief on rent, utilities, and childcare.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has promised to work with a newly Democratic legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, strengthen abortion rights, and increase affordable housing.

Democrats also won trifectas in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nevada, where they won the governor's office. They broke Republican trifectas in Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas.

In some states, including Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, Democrats turned Republican-controlled legislatures into divided legislatures. Georgia Democrats won the House and came close in the Senate. On their agenda: Medicaid expansion to provide health care to more low-income residents and a possible effort to repeal the state's six-week abortion ban, though that could be a tough sell in the Senate.

Democrats won control of the North Carolina state House. In the state Senate, a Republican is leading one race by just over a couple hundred votes, and a recount is likely. That race will determine whether Republicans have a one-seat majority or the chamber is tied. If tied, the Democratic lieutenant governor would be the tie-breaker. North Carolina Democrats are expected to try to roll back some abortion restrictions, and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein has called on both parties to address affordability concerns.

In several states, Democrats fell short of flipping Republican-held chambers but won enough seats to end Republican supermajorities, according to the multistate government relations firm Multistate. That happened in six states that had GOP veto-proof supermajorities. The change will matter most where there are Democratic governors, who now have leverage to veto GOP initiatives, as in North Carolina, Ohio, and Kansas.

The results reversed a GOP dominance in legislatures that began in 2010 and had solidified since. With the new balance of power, statehouses are poised to become key battlegrounds over health care, abortion, education funding, and economic relief for working families.