Author: Nathan Maxwell
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Recent midterm election years featured more open state legislative seats than presidential years
According to Ballotpedia’s annual competitiveness analyses, midterm election years like 2026 tend to feature more open state legislative seats than presidential election years. Voters across 46 states will choose who will represent them in 6,155 state legislative districts this November. On March 3, 2026, three states—Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas—will hold the first primary elections…
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The average margin of victory across 2025’s state legislative elections was 24.7%, down from 28.7% in 2023
The average margin of victory across 2025’s 180 state legislative elections was 24.7%. This is the second-lowest average margin of victory in odd-year elections since 2019, and down from 28.7% in 2023. The Nov. 4, 2025, state legislative elections included all 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and all 80 seats in the…
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Seven candidates are running in the Democratic primary for Georgia governor
Seven candidates are running in the Democratic Party primary for governor on May 19, 2026. Four candidates—Keisha Bottoms, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, and Michael Thurmond—lead in polling, fundraising, and media coverage ahead of the primary. Roy Barnes (D) (1998) was the last Democrat elected governor in the state. The Current's Craig Nelson wrote that at…
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New York redistricting commission ordered to redraw state’s congressional map
On Jan. 21, 2026, New York state judge Jeffrey Pearlman ruled that New York’s 11th Congressional District unconstitutionally diluted Black and Latino voting power. Pearlman ordered the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the congressional map by Feb. 6. On Jan. 26, Republicans appealed the decision. The lawsuit, filed in October 2025, argued…
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Ballotpedia identifies 21 battleground Republican primaries for North Carolina House
On March 3, 2026, North Carolina voters will vote in 39 contested Republican primaries for North Carolina House of Representatives. The News & Observer's Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi said this year’s elections "could be complicated by a group of candidates running in the upcoming primary election who switched political parties last year." According to Guinassi,…
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Record number of candidates and contested primaries in the 2026 Texas state legislative elections
Texas has 465 major party candidates running for state legislative office, the most of any election cycle since 2010. Of the 465 total candidates, 238 are Democrats, up 20% from 199 in 2024. There are 227 Republican candidates, up 7% from 212 in 2024. Texas also has 103 contested state legislative primaries this year, an…
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Share of Illinois state legislative incumbents in contested primaries lowest since 2016
In 2026, 12.7% of the state legislative incumbents running for election in Illinois will face primary contests, down from 14.4% in 2024 and the lowest percentage since 2016, when 11.8% of incumbents faced primaries. In total, 18 incumbents face contested primaries across the Illinois House and Senate. The average number of incumbents contested each election…
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Arkansas to see fewest state legislative incumbent primaries since 2014
Nine Arkansas state legislative incumbents face primary contests this year, the fewest since eight incumbents ran in contested 2014 primaries. All nine of the contested incumbents are Republicans. Three are state senators and six are state representatives. This is the first year without any Democratic incumbents in contested primaries in the state since Ballotpedia began…
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Fewest open state legislative seats in North Carolina since 2010
Ten seats are open in North Carolina’s state legislative elections this year, meaning no incumbents filed. That is the fewest open seats since 2010 and means newcomers could represent as little as 6% of the legislature next year. The average number of open seats each cycle from 2010 to 2024 was 24. Thirty-nine incumbents face…
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Indiana Senate votes against new all-Republican congressional map
On Dec. 11, 2025, the Indiana Senate voted 31-19 against a new congressional map that would have shifted the state’s two Democratic U.S. House districts toward Republicans ahead of the 2026 elections. Twenty-one Republicans joined the chamber’s 10 Democrats in voting against the bill. The vote against redistricting came despite pressure from the White House…