Tag: incumbent
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West Virginia sees highest share of contested state legislative incumbents since 2010 — all Republicans for second year
In 2026, 48.5% of the state legislative incumbents running for election in West Virginia will face primary contests, the highest share since 50.5% of incumbents faced challenges in 2010. In total, 48 incumbents face contested primaries across the West Virginia House and Senate. The average number of incumbents contested each election cycle since 2010 was…
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Four incumbents lost in the Republican primaries for North Carolina House of Representatives
Four incumbents lost in the Republican primaries for the North Carolina House of Representatives on March 3, 2026. The general election is on November 3, 2026. The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of 88 state legislative chambers with elections in 2026. There are 99 chambers throughout the country. Ahead of the election, the…
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Three Democratic incumbents lost in the North Carolina House primaries
Eight state legislative incumbents lost in the primaries in North Carolina on March 3, including three Democratic representatives. That was the most Democratic House primary losses in the state since four lost in the 2010 primaries. The average number of Democratic representatives who lost in the primaries since 2010 was 1.4. According to the Raleigh…
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Sen. Cynthia Lummis becomes the ninth U.S. senator to announce she won't seek re-election in 2026
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) announced on Dec. 19, 2025, that she will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2026. Lummis posted on X, “Deciding not to run for reelection does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do…
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Seventeen Republican incumbents lost in the 2025 state legislative general elections
Seventeen incumbents—all Republicans—lost in the 2025 state legislative elections in New Jersey and Virginia. That’s the most general election incumbent defeats in an odd year since 21 were defeated in 2011. Twelve Republican incumbents lost re-election in Virginia, where Democrats expanded their majority by 13 seats, going from 51 to 64 seats in the 100-member…
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Thirty-five members of Congress have announced they will not seek re-election in 2026
Thirty-five members of the U.S. Congress—eight U.S. Senate members and 27 U.S. House members—have announced they will not seek re-election in 2026. Compared to previous election cycles, 35 is the most retirement announcements we have tracked at this point since 2018. Since our Aug. 18 update, six U.S. House members and one U.S. Senate member…
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303 state legislative incumbents lost re-election campaigns in 2024
There were 5,807 state legislative seats up for election on November 5, 2024, in 44 states. Across those elections, 303 incumbents lost their re-election bids: 134 in general elections and 169 in primaries. This was the second even-year election in a row that primary defeats outnumbered those in general elections. Across primary elections in 2024,…
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Lower rate of of state executive incumbents are seeking re-election in 2024 compared to prior years
Ballotpedia's 2024 study of competitiveness in state executive official elections found that 45.1% of incumbents (74 incumbents across 164 seats) did not seek re-election, leaving those seats open. That was above the average rate of open state executive seats from 2011-2023 (35.7%). Every year, Ballotpedia publishes an annual report on the competitiveness of state executive…
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First time since 2010 that a state has over 65% of its incumbents contested in primaries
This year, the states with the highest percentages of incumbents contested in primaries are Wyoming (65.6%), South Dakota (60.9%), Nebraska (50.0%), Idaho (49.5%), Arizona (45.7%), and California (45.5%). Four of these states have Republican trifectas, one has a Democratic trifecta, and the other has a divided government. A primary is contested when there are more…
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136 state legislative incumbents have been defeated in primaries this year - four of which were legislative leaders
In the 37 states that have held primaries so far this year, 136 state legislative incumbents—3.4% of all incumbents seeking re-election—have lost. That’s less than at this point in 2022, when 174, or 4.6%, of incumbents had lost in primaries. Four of the 136 defeated incumbents were legislative leaders: three Republican state senators and one…