In the 2026 elections, 118 out of the 296 state executive offices up for election have no incumbent running, meaning those positions are open. This is the largest number of open offices since 2018, when we started collecting this data.
One contributing factor to this year’s number of open offices is term limits. Fifty-seven offices (48% of all 118 open offices) are open because of term limits, the largest total since 2018 and the highest percentage in an even year since 2018.
While 2026 has the highest total number of open offices since 2018, it does not have the highest percentage of open offices. This year, 39.8% of offices are open, down from 43.7% in 2024. Approximately 36.9% of these offices were open in even-year elections from 2018 to 2024, while roughly 63.1% had incumbents seeking another term.
Contested general elections
There are 287 general elections for 296 offices this year. Among those, 267 elections (93%) are contested, and 20 (7%) are uncontested. (Note: The number of total general elections differs from the total number of offices due to primaries that were won outright and multi-seat races.) That is both the largest number of contested general elections and the highest percentage of contested elections in an even year since 2018.
Of the 161 incumbents who are running in the general elections, 144 (89.4%) are contested and 17 (10.6%) are uncontested. That is more uncontested incumbents than in 2022 but fewer than 2018, the last two midterm election cycles. In 2022, there were 16 uncontested incumbents (8.6% of the 185 incumbents running in the general elections) and 307 offices up for election. In 2018, there were 19 uncontested incumbents (11.1% of the 171 incumbents running in the general elections) and 303 offices up for election.
Offices up in November and battlegrounds
The 296 offices up for election this year include
- 36 gubernatorial offices, 10 of which Ballotpedia has identified as battlegrounds
- 31 lieutenant gubernatorial offices
- 30 attorney general offices
- 26 secretary of state offices
- 173 down ballot offices
Primary competition
A total of 276 (50.5%) of a possible 546 primaries were contested, and 270 (49.5%) were uncontested. An average of 50% of state executive primaries were contested in even-year elections from 2018 to 2024.
Of the 161 incumbents running in the general elections, 85 advanced without a contested primary. Fifteen incumbents were defeated in primaries, primary runoffs, or conventions.
Notable primary defeats included:
- Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee, who lost to Helena Foulkes in the Democratic primary. McKee is the first Rhode Island governor to lose a primary since 1994.
- Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, who lost to Max Engling at the Republican nominating convention.
- Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, who lost to Scott Petersen in the Republican primary.
- South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, who lost to Heather Baxter at the Republican nominating convention.
- Alabama Public Service Commissioners Jeremy Oden, Chris Beeker, III, and Alabama State Board of Education member Marie Manning all lost in the Republican primaries for their seats.
Of the various types of executive offices, only seven exist in all 50 states: governor, attorney general, superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner. Other state executive offices include lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, controller, auditor, and more.
Click here to read our 2026 state executive competitiveness report. To read more about state executive official elections in 2026, click here.