State legislators were included in the second-highest number of recall efforts this year out of all office types as of April 11, 2025. Ballotpedia had tracked recall efforts against 30 state legislators, which was second only to city council members, who saw 75 officeholders included in recall efforts. All 30 state legislators included in recall efforts were from Minnesota. Click here to read about the efforts against 29 Democratic state legislators, and click here to read about the effort against a Republican state legislator.
From 2010 to 2024, an average of nine state legislators had recall efforts started against them each year. 2011 saw the most state legislators included in recalls at 33, and 2010 saw the least at one. During the same span, city council members had the most recall petitions filed against them compared to other office types every year with the exception of 2021, when school board members had the most. School board members had the second-most recall petitions filed against them every year except 2021, when they had the most, and 2017, when they had the third-most after city council members and mayors.
A political recall is the process by which citizens can remove elected officials from office before their term is completed. This process typically includes the circulation of petitions by recall organizers, the evaluation of signatures by election officials, and a public vote if the petitions are deemed to have a sufficient number of valid signatures. The details of the recall process vary from state to state. Click here to learn about the laws governing recalls in each state.
When looking at recalls by state, California saw the highest number of officials included in recall efforts since 2010 with 1,033. Those officials account for 19% of all recalls Ballotpedia had tracked as of April 11, 2025. Michigan had the second-highest with 1,006 (18%), and Colorado was third-highest with 379 (7%).
The map below shows the total number of officials targeted for recall in each state from 2010 to April 11, 2025. Ballotpedia did not track any recall efforts in the states shown in gray.
From 2010 to 2024, Ballotpedia covered an average of 219 recall efforts against an average of 356 officials per year. Those recalls saw a 17% success rate. The success rate was calculated by dividing the number of recalled officials by the total number of officials who were targeted for recall. The highest success rate happened in 2011 when 83 of the 308 officials targeted for recall were removed from office in a recall election, a success rate of 27%. The lowest success rate happened in 2021 when 25 of the 545 officials targeted for recall were removed from office in a recall election, a success rate of 5%.
As of April 11, 2025, Ballotpedia had tracked 115 recall efforts against 159 officials. As of that time, 10 of the officials targeted for recall had been removed from office in a recall election, a success rate of 6%. Three officials defeated a recall election to stay in office.
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