Throughout May, Ballotpedia covered 5,793 elections in 23 states, 70% of which were uncontested. That’s down from April when 71% of the 4,607 covered were uncontested. Ballotpedia defines an uncontested election as one where the number of candidates running is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election. This analysis does…
Eight candidates are running in the top-two primary for Washington’s 4th Congressional District on August 6, 2024. Three candidates lead in media attention and campaign finance: Incumbent Dan Newhouse (R), Jerrod Sessler (R), and Tiffany Smiley (R). This election takes place against the backdrop of Newhouse’s vote in 2021 to impeach then-President Donald Trump for…
Campaign finance rules for ballot measures differ from those for candidate elections. “Referenda are held on issues, not candidates for public office,” wrote the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 (First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti). The court has held that spending on ballot measure campaigns is similar to issue advocacy in the lawmaking process.…
As of April 30, 2024, the end of the most recent party committee campaign finance filing period, the three committees associated with the Democratic Party have raised a cumulative $519 million and spent $392 million for the 2024 election cycle, while the three committees associated with the Republican Party have raised $430 million and spent…
This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Utah was January 8, 2024. Thirteen candidates are running for Utah’s four U.S. House districts, including three Democrats and 10 Republicans. That’s 3.25 candidates per district. There were 3.25 candidates per district in 2022, 3.75 candidates per district in 2020, and 2.5 in 2018. Here…
South Carolina has 79 contested state legislative primaries in 2024, an increase of 65% from the preceding cycle. Twenty-seven of these primaries are for Democrats, up 125% from 2022. This is up 4% from 2020 and 35% from 2016, the last two cycles featuring elections for every state House and Senate seat. Fifty-two primaries are…
Four candidates are running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. Two candidates lead in endorsements, campaign finance, and media attention: Kari Lake (R) and Mark Lamb (R). Incumbent Sen. Krysten Sinema (I), who was first elected in 2018, is not running for re-election. Lake was a news anchor for Fox 10…
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R) won the Republican primary in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District on May 7, 2024. Spartz received 39.1% of the vote. Chuck Goodrich (R) finished in second with 33.2% of the vote. Seven other candidates also ran in the primary. Spartz announced in Feb. 2023 that she would not run for…
Incumbent Andy Ogles (R) and Courtney Johnston (R) are running in the Republican primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District on Aug. 1, 2024. Ogles was first elected in 2022 after winning the Republican nomination with 35.4% of the vote in a ten-candidate primary. According to Hoodline, Ogles “came under fire for his behavior in Congress…
The three committees associated with the Democratic Party have raised a cumulative $462 million and spent $360 million for the 2024 election cycle, while the three committees associated with the Republican Party have raised $375 million and spent $300 million. That data is through March 31, 2024, the end of the most recent party committee campaign finance filing period.…