U.S. Rep. Doug Collins seeks election to Senate, 2,456 major party candidates filed for 2020 Congress elections


U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (R) announced January 29 that he is running in the special election for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) resigned in December.

Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th Congressional District in the House since 2013. He is the third member of Georgia’s congressional delegation to announce he would not seek re-election to the House—Rob Woodall (R) of Georgia’s 7th and Tom Graves (R) of Georgia’s 14th are retiring from public office.

Collins is the 36th representative not seeking re-election and the 27th Republican. Four senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) are not running for re-election. In 2018, 55 total members of Congress—18 Democrats and 37 Republicans—did not seek re-election.

As of February 3, 2020, 2,456 major party candidates have filed to run for the Senate and House of Representatives in 2020.

A total of 348 candidates were filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to run for U.S. Senate. Of those, 296—154 Democrats and 142 Republicans—were 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, 2,355 candidates are filed with the FEC to run in 2020. Of those, 2,160—1,038 Democrats and 1,122 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.

Click here to learn more.

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