12,274 major party candidates filed for 2020 state legislative elections


On November 3, 2020, 5,875 state legislative seats are up for regular election across 86 chambers in 44 states. This includes 1,164 state senate seats and 4,711 state house seats.
As of July 16, we’ve collected post-filing deadline data in 43 states. In 2020, 5,824 state legislative seats are up for regular election in those states, compared to 5,691 in 2018.
12,274 major party candidates—6,210 Democrats and 6,064 Republicans—have filed to run for state legislature in these states. This compares to 12,442—6,526 Democrats and 5,916 Republicans—in 2018.
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Elections in open seats tend to be more competitive than those where an incumbent is seeking re-election. So far, there are fewer open seats in 2020 than in 2018. In 2020, 871 major party incumbents (15% of seats up for election) are not running for re-election, compared to 1,078 major party incumbents (19%) in 2018.
More incumbents face primary challenges in 2020 than in 2018. So far in 2020, 999 major party incumbents face primary challengers. In 2018, 909 major party incumbents faced primary challenges. In 2018, 86% of incumbents in these states won their primaries.
Overall, there are fewer contested state legislative primaries in 2020 than in 2018, with 1,864 and 1,984, respectively. These totals include all competitive partisan, top-two and nonpartisan primaries.
Currently, there is a Republican majority in 52 chambers, a Democratic majority in 33, and a power-sharing agreement in the Alaska House.