Tag: incumbent
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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…
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Three U.S. House incumbents are in contested primaries in Oregon this year—the fewest since 2014
This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Oregon was March 12, 2024. Thirty candidates are running for Oregon’s six U.S. House districts, including 17 Democrats and 13 Republicans. That’s 5.0 candidates per district, less than the 7.5 candidates per district in 2022, the 8.0 candidates per district in 2020, and the 6.4…
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Three U.S. House incumbents are in contested elections in Georgia this year—a decade-low
This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Georgia was March 8, 2024. Fifty-five candidates are running for Georgia’s 14 U.S. House districts, including 30 Democrats and 25 Republicans. That’s 3.9 candidates per district, lower than the 5.9 candidates per district in 2022 and the 5.5 in 2020. This is the first election…
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Decade-high number of incumbents in contested state legislative primaries in Texas
Fifty-eight Texas state legislative incumbents face primary challenges, representing 40% of all those running for re-election. This is the highest number and percentage of contested incumbents since 2014. Of the 58 incumbents in contested primaries, 13 are Democrats and 45 are Republicans. Texas has 93 contested state legislative primaries this year, a 3% decrease from…