
With three weeks to go until Election Night, our staff is busy preparing to cover elections across the country. In preparation, our team has selected 10 elections from that coverage to make up our list of the most important, compelling, and competitive elections in the country. Our editorial department selected these elections based on past…

Virginia’s 2025 House of Delegates election could decide the fate of three proposed constitutional amendments. One would remove a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, one would create a constitutional right to reproductive freedom, and one would allow persons convicted of felonies to vote following their release from incarceration. The constitutional amendment process in Virginia requires…

Incumbent Lawrence Krasner (D) and Patrick F. Dugan (R) are running in the general election for Philadelphia district attorney on November 4, 2025. Krasner defeated Dugan 64% to 36% in the Democratic primary on May 20. Dugan also won the Republican nomination as a write-in candidate and announced on August 9 that he would run…

All 18 state legislative incumbents who do not have general election challengers this November are Democrats. There are 168 incumbents running for re-election. That means 10.7% of the state legislative incumbents running this year in New Jersey and Virginia are guaranteed re-election. Ballotpedia uses the number and percentage of incumbents in uncontested general elections to…

Democrats are running for every state legislative seat up for election in 2025, and Republicans are running for 88% of them. That means 12% of seats this year are guaranteed to Democrats due to a lack of Republican competition in those races, and none are guaranteed to Republicans due to a lack of Democratic competition.…

Catelin Drey (D) defeated Christopher Prosch (R) in the special general election for Iowa state Senate District 1 on August 26, 2025. The previous incumbent, Rocky De Witt (R), died on June 25, 2025. Leading up to the election, Republicans had a 33-16 majority in the Iowa Senate with one vacancy. Drey's win meant that…

Emily Dean, Sonda Gaub, Braxton Hudson, Chris Riccardo, and Andy Shirtliff are running in the nonpartisan primary for mayor of Helena, Montana, on Sept. 9, 2025. This election is the first since 2001 in Helena to require a primary for mayor. According to KTVH, state law "requires local governments to hold primaries if at least…

Thirty-eight state legislative incumbents faced contested primaries in 2025, representing 22% of all incumbents who filed for re-election. While that was two fewer than the 40 contested incumbents in 2021, it was larger by percentage than each of the three previous odd-year cycles following presidential elections. Twelve percent were contested in 2013, 16% in 2017,…

Eleven candidates are running in the nonpartisan election for mayor of the city of Miami, Florida, on November 4, 2025. If necessary, a runoff will be scheduled for November 18, 2025. The filing deadline for this election is September 20, 2025. Incumbent Francis Suarez is term-limited. Four candidates lead in media attention, fundraising, and polling:…

There are eight open seats in this year’s state legislative elections, four percent of all 180 seats up for election. That is the lowest by percentage of any odd-year cycle since 2011. An open seat is where no incumbent filed to run, meaning it is guaranteed to be won by a newcomer. Ballotpedia uses the…