State legislatures compared by extent of electoral competitiveness in 2010

2010 Competitiveness Overview
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
Open seats (state comparisons)
Impact of term limits on # of open seats Long-serving senators • Long-serving reps
Results Comparisons
Chart Comparing 2011 Results • Comparisons Between Years • Party differences
Competitiveness Index
2010 State Legislative Elections
Competitiveness Studies from Other Years
2007 • 2009 • 2011 • 2012

This chart captures the ranking that a state legislature received on all three factors in this Election Competitiveness Index.

• The first column, "Primary Contests," ranks states against each other based on the percentage of incumbents who had a primary challenger.
• The second column, "Major Party Competition," ranks states against each other based on the percentage of major party candidates on the November 2 ballot with a major party challenger.
• The third column, "Open Seats," contrasts states based on the percentage of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2010.
• The fourth column is an arithmetical average of the state's scores on the all three factors.

States compared by electoral competitiveness

Legend:      States with state legislative term limits

Note on ranking system: In each case, 1 represents the most electorally competitive environment, and 46 represents the least electorally competitive environment. (46 is the highest relevant number in 2010, because there are state legislative elections in 46 states in 2010.)

State legislature	Primary contests	Major party competition	Open seats	Overall rank
Alabama	9	41	21	22
Alaska	23	30	34	31
Arizona	5	16	4	3
Arkansas	41	44	3	33
California	37	6	7	11
Colorado	45	10	12	21
Connecticut	44	14	33	36
Delaware	35	32	35	44
Florida	19	37	9	17
Georgia	16	43	19	28
Hawaii	6	7	31	6
Idaho	10	36	40	30
Illinois	25	28	43	39
Indiana	26	26	42	37
Iowa	39	22	22	29
Kansas	18	33	42	34
Kentucky	21	35	44	43
Maine	43	2	13	14
Maryland	2	15	23	5
Massachusetts	38	39	20	40
Michigan	13	3	1	2
Minnesota	42	4	27	24
Missouri	28	34	5	20
Montana	30	18	6	12
Nebraska	3	20	24	7
Nevada	20	8	2	4
New Hampshire	1	1	11	1
New Mexico	15	38	46	42
New York	17	12	28	13
North Carolina	11	23	32	19
North Dakota	46	13	14	25
Ohio	27	9	10	8
Oklahoma	29	40	18	32
Oregon	32	5	37	27
Pennsylvania	31	29	35	38
Rhode Island	7	24	29	15
South Carolina	14	46	38	41
South Dakota	36	21	8	18
Tennessee	34	31	40	45
Texas	22	42	45	46
Utah	8	11	30	10
Vermont	40	27	25	35
Washington	33	25	17	26
West Virginia	4	17	26	9
Wisconsin	24	19	16	16
Wyoming	12	45	15	23

See also

• State legislative elections, 2010
• Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2010
• Partisan balance of legislatures and 2010 competitiveness
• Major party candidates with no major party challengers in the November 2010 state legislative elections
• Open seats in the 2010 state legislative elections