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Election results, 2021: Incumbent win rates by state
Updated December 13, 2021
This content is part of Ballotpedia's analysis of the 2021 elections. For comprehensive election results, click here.
Ballotpedia covered all state races on November 2, 2021, as well as local elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. In the 2021 general election, an average of 85.54% of incumbents nationwide won their re-election bids.[1] The number drops to 82.35% when including incumbents that withdrew or were disqualified.
Comparatively, in the 2020 general election, 93% of incumbents nationwide won their re-election bids. In the 2019 November election, 90% of incumbents were successful.
- State legislative incumbents had an 89% average win rate in November 2021.
- Local legislative incumbents saw an average incumbent win rate of 80%.
- Minnesota incumbents were the least successful with a win rate of 55%, followed by Kansas (59%) and Colorado (67%).
The analysis below includes data compiled by Ballotpedia on the 697 incumbents who ran for re-election on November 2, 2021.
Win rates by state
The table below shows the win rate for each state and office type:
2021 map
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2021
- 2021 election analysis: Uncontested races by state
- State executive official elections, 2021
- State legislative elections, 2021
- State judicial elections, 2021
- United States municipal elections, 2021
Footnotes
- ↑ This percentage includes races in which incumbents ran unopposed.
