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Democratic Party battleground primaries, 2024
| 2024 Democratic Party primary elections |
|---|
 |
| Battleground primaries |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds State executive battlegrounds |
| Federal primaries |
| U.S. Senate primaries U.S. House primaries |
| State primaries |
| Gubernatorial primaries Attorney General primaries Secretary of State primaries State legislative primaries |
| Primary overviews |
| Republican Party primaries, 2024 Democratic Party primaries, 2024 Top-two and top-four battleground primaries, 2024 U.S. House battleground primaries, 2024 |
| Primaries by state |
General elections are often the focal point of election-year media coverage as they determine control of elected offices up and down the ballot. Primary elections, however, can provide insight on future elections as they help influence the direction each party takes.
Although many of the most competitive primaries take place for open seats or offices that are held by a different party, even high-ranking federal officeholders can lose renomination to primary challengers. In the 2018 primary for New York's 14th Congressional District, Democratic Caucus Chair and 10-term incumbent Joseph Crowley (D) was defeated by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D).
On this page, you will find information on noteworthy and notable Democratic Party primaries that took place across the country for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state executive offices, and state legislatures in 2024. The page also includes information about notable top-two primaries for Democratic seats.
Ballotpedia identified 34 Democratic battleground primaries in 2024. To see how our list of battlegrounds has changed over the course of the year, click here.
Click here for information on Republican Party battleground primaries in 2024.
Click on the links below to learn more about general election battlegrounds by race type:
- U.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2024
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2024
- Gubernatorial battlegrounds, 2024
- Top-two and top-four battleground primaries, 2024
Criteria
It is typically difficult to predict how competitive primaries will be until after filing deadlines take place. However, Ballotpedia used a number of factors to give insight into the most interesting 2024 primary elections. Factors that were used to determine the competitiveness of primaries included:
- Whether or not the seat was open (retiring or resigning incumbent)
- Notable endorsements of multiple candidates
- Significant fundraising from multiple candidates
- Number of candidates
- Incumbent's years in office (if seeking re-election)
- Whether or not the district's general election was expected to be a battleground
U.S. Senate primaries
There were 2 U.S. Senate Democratic battleground primaries in 2024.
- United States Senate election in Maryland, 2024 (May 14 Democratic primary)
- United States Senate election in Texas, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
The following map shows each state with a Democratic battleground primary for U.S. Senate in 2024. Hover over or tap a state to view the incumbent's name.
U.S. House primaries
There were 25 U.S. House Democratic battleground primaries in 2024.
- Alabama's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (April 16 Democratic primary runoff)
- Alabama's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Arizona's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024 (July 30 Democratic primary)
- Georgia's 13th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 21 Democratic primary)
- Illinois' 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 19 Democratic primary)
- Illinois' 7th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 19 Democratic primary)
- Maryland's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024 (May 14 Democratic primary)
- Maryland's 5th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 14 Democratic primary)
- Maryland's 6th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 14 Democratic primary)
- Michigan's 13th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)
- Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)
- New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)
- New Jersey's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)
- New Jersey's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)
- New York's 16th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 25 Democratic primary)
- New York's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (June 25 Democratic primary)
- New York's 22nd Congressional District election, 2024 (June 25 Democratic primary)
- Oregon's 5th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 21 Democratic primary)
- Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)
- Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)
- Texas' 18th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Texas' 7th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Virginia's 10th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 18 Democratic primary)
- Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Democratic primary)
The following map shows each state with a Democratic battleground primary for U.S. House in 2024. Hover over or tap a district to view the incumbent's name.
State executive primaries
There were 2 state executive Democratic battleground primaries in 2024.
- Delaware gubernatorial election, 2024 (September 10 Democratic primary)
- North Carolina Attorney General election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
The following map shows each state with a Democratic battleground primary for a state executive office in 2024. Hover over or tap a state to view the battleground primaries in that state and the incumbent's name in each race.
State legislative primaries
Ballotpedia did not identify any state legislative battleground primaries in 2024.
Top-two primaries for Democratic seats
There were 6 top-two battleground primaries for Democratic-held seats in 2024.
- California's 30th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
- California's 31st Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
- California's 47th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
- United States Senate election in California, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
- Washington Attorney General election, 2024 (August 6 top-two primary)
- Washington gubernatorial election, 2024 (August 6 top-two primary)
California uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.[1][2]
Unlike the top-two format used in some states (Louisiana and Georgia special elections for example), a general election between the top-two candidates in California occurs regardless of whether the top candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round of elections.
As of October 2025, California was one of five states to use a top-two primary system, or a variation of the top-two system for some or all statewide primaries. See here for more information.
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Change log
This section lists every change that was made to our battleground list between the launch of the page in November 2023 and the close of the primary election season.
- August 2, 2024: Added DE Gov.
- June 21, 2024: Added NH-2 and WA AG. Removed MI-7.
- May 31, 2024: Added NY-22. Removed DE Senate.
- May 27, 2024: Added NY-1.
- May 8, 2024: Added NJ-10 special. Removed NY-4.
- March 26, 2024: Removed CO-3.
- March 14, 2024: Added NJ-9.
- March 8, 2024: Added AL-2 runoff.
- March 1, 2024: Removed MN-3.
- February 23, 2024: Added IL-4.
- February 16, 2024: Added GA-13 and TX-18.
- January 26, 2024: Removed CA-12.
- November 27, 2023: Launched initial battlegrounds list with 27 races.[3]
2022 battlegrounds
Ballotpedia identified 42 Democratic battleground primaries in 2022. There were four senate battleground primaries, 30 house battleground primaries, and eight state executive battleground primaries for Democratic-held seats. To read more about the 2022 Democratic Party battleground primaries, click here.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ California Legislative Information, "California Constitution, Article II, Section 5," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Primary Elections in California," accessed October 20, 2025
- ↑ The original 19 races identified were: CA Senate, DE Senate, MD Senate, TX Senate, AL-2, AZ-3, CA-12, CA-30, CA-31, CA-47, CO-3, IL-7, MD-3, MD-5, MD-6, MN-3, MN-5, MO-1, PA-10, PA-12, OR-3, OR-5, TX-32, TX-7, WI-3, NC AG, and WA Gov.
