Primary election competitiveness in state government, 2019
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In 2019, Ballotpedia published primary election competitiveness data following each state's major-party candidate filing deadline. This includes data from state legislative and state executive filings.
The statistics in this report include the percentage of contested partisan primary elections in 2019, the percentage of incumbents who sought re-election, and the percentage of incumbents with a primary challenger. It does not include data on candidates nominated by convention. Click here to scroll to primary election competitiveness data for state elections in 2019, and click here to scroll to the data organized by type of office and state. Click here for the 2018 edition of this analysis.
A contested primary is defined as one in which voters have a choice on the ballot. Most commonly, this means that there is more than one candidate from one party in the race. Exceptions to this include states with multi-member legislative districts and states featuring a top-two primary system, such as Louisiana.
Overview
The following statistics are an aggregate of primary election competitiveness data across all states with completed filing deadlines. Corresponding data from 2015 and 2017 are provided for comparative purposes. The 2015 Virginia state legislature primary election data was excluded from the figures below due to unclear historical data about which of those elections had primaries or conventions.
- As of August 2019, an average of 2.1 candidates per seat filed for election. In 2017, 2.2 candidates per seat ran, and in 2015, 2.1 candidates per seat ran on the ballot.[1]
- 19.1% of seats were open. In 2017, 10.6% of seats were open, and 16.3% of seats were open in 2015.
- 29.6% of possible primary races were contested in 2019. Comparatively, 16.1% of primaries were contested in 2017, and 28.9% were contested in 2015.
- 31.9% of incumbents faced contested primaries. In 2017, 16.8% of incumbents faced a primary opponent, while in 2015, 28.8% of incumbents faced a contested primary.
2019
| Office | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017
| Office | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015
| Office | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Breakdown by office
State executives
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office.
| State executive primary competitiveness from 2014 to 2019 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
| Odd-year elections | ||||||||
| Even-year elections | ||||||||
State legislature
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office. The numbers below exclude 2015 Virginia state legislative data due to unclear historical data about which of those elections had primaries or conventions.
| State legislative primary competitiveness from 2014 to 2019 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
| Odd-year elections | ||||||||
| Even-year elections | ||||||||
Breakdown by state
Kentucky
Kentucky's filing deadline was January 29, 2019. Candidates filed to run for state executive offices.
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office in this state.[1]
State executives
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Louisiana
Louisiana's filing deadline was August 8, 2019. Candidates filed to run for state executive offices and the state legislature.
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office in this state.
State executives
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Total contested primaries | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State legislature
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Total contested primaries | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mississippi
Mississippi's filing deadline was March 1, 2019. Candidates filed to run for state executive offices and the state legislature.
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office in this state.
State executives
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ||||||||
State legislature
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
New Jersey's filing deadline was April 1, 2019. Candidates filed to run for the state legislature.
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office in this state.
State legislature
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Virginia
Virginia's filing deadline was March 28, 2019. Candidates filed to run for the state legislature.
Read the table below for cumulative primary competitiveness and incumbency statistics by office in this state.
State legislature
| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Total candidates | Democratic primaries contested | Republican primaries contested | Total contested | Incumbents contested in primaries | % of incumbents contested in primaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
See also
- Competitiveness reports: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
- Elections
- Elections calendar
- State executive official elections, 2019
- State legislative elections, 2019
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kentucky governors and lieutenant governors run on a joint ticket. For the purposes of this analysis, they were considered two separate offices.
- ↑ The Virginia state legislature primary election data was excluded from these figures due to unclear historical data about which elections held primaries or conventions.
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