Ballotpedia identified 17 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices over the previous week. That number is two fewer than the number of candidates processed the previous week (19). All of these candidates declared prior to their state’s official filing deadline.

Ten of those candidates were Democratic, while six were Republican. One was a third-party candidate.

Of those candidates, 15 filed for Congress, one filed for state legislatures, and one filed for a state executive office. 

Each week, Ballotpedia processes declared candidacy for all elected federal and state offices. We process both official and declared candidates.

An official candidate is someone who registers with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline or appears on candidate lists released by government election agencies. A declared candidate is someone who has not completed the steps to become an official candidate but who might have done one or more of the following:

• Appeared in candidate forums or debates
• Published a campaign website
• Published campaign social media pages
• Advertised online, on television, or through print
• Issued press releases
• Interviewed with media publications

For more on Ballotpedia’s definition of candidacy, click here.