One congressional retirement announced last week; 2,241 major party candidates have filed for 2020 races


On January 3, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) announced he will not seek re-election. Roe has represented Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District since 2009. To date, four senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) and 35 representatives (26 Republicans and nine Democrats) are not running for re-election. In 2018, 55 total members of Congress—37 Republicans and 18 Democrats—did not seek re-election.

As of January 6, 2020, 2,241 major party candidates have filed to run for the Senate and House of Representatives in 2020.

So far, 327 candidates are filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to run for U.S. Senate. Of those, 279—147 Democrats and 132 Republicans—are from one of the two major political parties. In 2018, 527 candidates filed with the FEC to run for U.S. Senate, including 137 Democrats and 240 Republicans.

For U.S. House, 2,128 candidates are filed with the FEC to run in 2020. Of those, 1,962—959 Democrats and 1,003 Republicans—are from one of the two major political parties. In 2018, 3,244 candidates filed with the FEC, including 1,566 Democrats and 1,155 Republicans.

On November 3, 2020, 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats are up for election. Of those Senate seats, 33 are regularly scheduled elections, while the other two are special elections in Arizona and Georgia. Twelve are Democratic-held seats and 23 are Republican-held seats. In the House, where all seats are up for election, Democrats currently hold a majority with 232 seats.

Additional Reading:

United States Senate elections, 2020
United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
List of U.S. Congress incumbents who are not running for re-election in 2020