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Incumbents with no primary challenger in the 2010 state legislative elections

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2010 Competitiveness Overview
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Primary competition (state comparison)
Incumbents with no primary challenge in 2010
Incumbents with no challenges at all in 2010
Incumbents defeated • Victorious challengers
Major party challengers (state comparison)
List of candidates with no competition
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Impact of term limits on # of open seats
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Chart Comparing 2011 Results • Comparisons Between Years
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Competitiveness Index
2010 State Legislative Elections
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2007 • 2009 • 2011 • 2012

By Geoff Pallay and Leslie Graves

There are 6,125 state legislative districts, in 46 states, with a seat up for election on November 2, 2010. We took a look at each of the 46 states to see how many state legislative incumbents who chose to run for re-election in 2010 faced a primary challenger.

Our main findings:

  • The incumbent chose to run for re-election in 4,985 (81.4%) of the 6,125 districts holding state legislative elections in 2010.
  • In 3,852 (77.3%) of those 4,985 districts, the incumbent faced no challenger in the primary.
  • Thus, only 1,133 (22.7%) of incumbents faced a primary opponent.
  • Of those 1,133 incumbents who faced a primary, only 96 were defeated.

Comparing states:

Primary Challengers Map.png
  • North Dakota, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine and Minnesota have the fewest incumbents facing primary opposition -- in other words, these five states had the least amount of competitiveness at the primary level.
  • The five states with the most competitive primaries in terms of incumbents facing primary challengers are New Hampshire, Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia and Arizona.

The score that states received based on their ratio of incumbents facing a primary challenger is one of 3 factors used in evaluating which states have the highest, and which states have the lowest, overall competitiveness in the 2010 state legislative elections.

Additionally, we have tracked incumbents that face no primary or general election opposition in the 2010 election. This data was not a primary component of the competitiveness index but is still compelling information regarding the elections.

There are 1,295 total incumbents (26.12%) who were guaranteed to win the race from the moment they registered for re-election -- because no opponent filed to run in the primary or general election.

States compared by primary competition

Legend:      States with state legislative term limits



The state that is least competitive as defined by the percentage of its seats where the incumbent did not have a primary challenger in 2010 is defined as #46, while the state that is most competitive as defined by the percentage of its seats where the incumbent did have a primary challenger is defined as #1; that is, 1 = "most competitive", 46 = "least competitive".

State Senate at stake Incumbents w/o primary House at stake Incumbents w/o primary  % w/o primary Primary challenger rank Overall competitive rank
Alabama 35 22 105 64 71.7% 9 22
Alaska 10 9 40 28 82.2% 23 31
Arizona 30 10 60 15 50% 5 3
Arkansas 17 3 100 57 93.75% 41 33
California 20 10 80 46 90.32% 37 11
Colorado 19 12 65 51 98.44% 45 21
Connecticut 36 32 151 132 97.62% 44 36
Delaware 11 9 41 33 89.36% 35 44
Florida 23 8 120 70 80.41% 19 17
Georgia 56 34 180 123 79.29% 16 28
Hawaii 13 6 51 28 59.65% 6 6
Idaho 35 21 70 49 72.92% 10 30
Illinois 21 17 118 89 82.81% 25 39
Indiana 25 19 100 77 83.48% 26 37
Iowa 25 21 100 79 92.59% 39 29
Kansas NA NA 125 92 80% 18 34
Kentucky 19 11 100 80 81.25% 21 43
Maine 35 25 151 113 97.18% 43 14
Maryland 47 24 141 30 33.13% 2 5
Massachusetts 40 28 160 126 91.67% 38 40
Michigan 38 6 110 46 76.47% 13 2
Minnesota 67 52 134 116 94.92% 42 24
Missouri 17 4 163 87 85.05% 28 20
Montana 26 9 100 56 85.53% 30 12
Nebraska 24 8 NA NA 38.1% 3 7
Nevada 11 2 42 19 80.77% 20 4
New Hampshire 24 18 400 65 25.78% 1 1
New Mexico NA NA 70 53 79.1% 15 42
New York 62 44 150 105 79.68% 17 13
North Carolina 50 31 120 82 74.34% 11 19
North Dakota 24 20 48 35 100% 46 25
Ohio 17 7 99 65 84.71% 27 8
Oklahoma 24 12 101 76 85.44% 29 32
Oregon 16 12 60 48 86.96% 32 27
Pennsylvania 25 20 203 157 85.51% 31 38
Rhode Island 38 23 75 39 61% 7 15
South Carolina NA NA 124 87 76.99% 14 41
South Dakota 35 21 70 43 90.14% 36 18
Tennessee 17 13 99 80 87.74% 34 45
Texas 16 11 150 118 81.65% 22 46
Utah 15 11 75 45 70% 8 10
Vermont 30 20 150 127 93.04% 40 35
Washington 25 16 98 72 87.13% 33 26
West Virginia 17 6 100 39 44.66% 4 9
Wisconsin 17 12 99 65 82.8% 24 16
Wyoming 15 9 60 36 75% 12 23
Totals: 1,167 708 4,958 3,153 77.31% NA NA

See also

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