Tagbattleground states

Thirteen gubernatorial battleground elections to take place in 2022

By Joel Williams
In State
March 9, 2022 at 4:16 PM

Thirty-six states will hold elections for governor in 2022. Of those, Ballotpedia has identified 13 as general election battlegrounds: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

These battleground races were selected using the following criteria:

  • the results of the 2020 presidential election in each state,
  • whether the incumbent is seeking re-election,
  • whether the governor’s office changed partisan control the last time it was up for election, and
  • how the Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated the race.

Of the 13, seven are in states with Republican incumbents and six are in states with Democratic incumbents. Six states had a governor of a party different from the candidate who won the state in the 2020 presidential election. The list of battlegrounds may change over the course of 2022.

The following map displays all states holding gubernatorial elections in 2022 shaded by the incumbent’s or most recent incumbent’s political affiliation. Battleground races are highlighted in brighter colors.



22 of Ballotpedia’s 57 federal battleground elections taking place in states with automatic recount procedures

By Douglas Kronaizl
In Federal
November 3, 2020 at 11:09 AM
Image of donkey and elephant to symbolize the Democratic and Republican parties.

This November, 22 of the 57 U.S. House and Senate races Ballotpedia identified as battlegrounds are taking place in states where a close vote could automatically trigger a recount under state law.

An automatic recount occurs if election results meet certain criteria laid out in state law. The most common trigger for an automatic recount is when election results fall within a close vote margin.

The table below lists those battleground races alongside the most recent margin as well as the state’s close vote trigger.

For seven of the races listed below, an automatic recount is only triggered if the race ends in a tie. For the remaining fourteen races, a recount is triggered if the vote total falls within the given close vote margin.

Nationwide, there are twenty-three states where a close or tie vote could trigger an automatic recount. However, a close vote is not the only way a state might trigger an automatic recount. Four states—Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, and North Carolina—require an automatic recount if an error is discovered while tabulating the votes or while conducting a post-election procedure such as an audit of voting machines. The map below shows those states with policies requiring an automatic recount under certain circumstances.

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