Election results, 2021: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
Three of the country's 99 state legislative chambers held regular elections in 2021. These chambers were in two states—New Jersey and Virginia—and represented 220 of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats (2.9%).
Out of the 220 state legislative seats up for election in 2021, incumbents ran for re-election to 203 of them.
Incumbents defeated in primary elections
Challengers defeated incumbents in eight primary elections or party nominating conventions. Five of those legislators were Democrats and three were Republicans. The legislators who lost in the primary stage were:
| Incumbents defeated in 2021 state legislative primary elections | ||
|---|---|---|
| Incumbent | Party | District |
| New Jersey | ||
| Serena DiMaso |  Republican |
New Jersey General Assembly District 13 |
| BettyLou DeCroce | Republican |
New Jersey General Assembly District 26 |
| Nicholas Chiaravalloti |  Democratic |
New Jersey General Assembly District 31 |
| Virginia | ||
| Charles Poindexter | Republican |
Virginia House of Delegates District 9 |
| Mark Levine | Democratic |
Virginia House of Delegates District 45 |
| Lee Carter | Democratic |
Virginia House of Delegates District 50 |
| Steve Heretick | Democratic |
Virginia House of Delegates District 79 |
| Ibraheem Samirah | Democratic |
Virginia House of Delegates District 86 |
Incumbents defeated in general elections
Challengers defeated incumbents in 14 general elections. All of those legislators were Democrats. The legislators who lost general election races were:
Historical context
Odd-year elections
As the chart below shows, 2021 had the highest percentage of incumbents defeated across the last six odd-year election cycles. The statistics from the five previous cycles are available below.
| Defeated incumbents, 2011-2021 (odd years) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total seats | Incumbents running | Incumbents defeated in primary | Incumbents defeated in general | Incumbents defeated total (percent) | |||
Even-year elections
More than 90 percent of state legislative elections happen during even-numbered years. The table below shows the rate of defeated incumbents in even-year elections between 2010 and 2020. These figures should not be directly compared to odd-year election statistics, but can be useful in providing a national context for the odd-year election statistics above.
| State legislative incumbents losses, 2010-2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Party | Primary defeats | General election defeats | All incumbent defeats | |||
| 2020 | |||||||
| Democrats | 60 | 165 | 225 | ||||
| Republicans | 94 | 52 | 146 | ||||
| Other | N/A | 10 | 10 | ||||
| Total | 154 | 227 | 381 | ||||
| 2018 | |||||||
| Democrats | 70 | 49 | 119 | ||||
| Republicans | 77 | 253 | 330 | ||||
| Other | N/A | 20 | 20 | ||||
| Total | 147 | 322 | 469 | ||||
| 2016 | |||||||
| Democrats | 39 | 126 | 165 | ||||
| Republicans | 84 | 103 | 187 | ||||
| Other | N/A | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 123 | 233 | 356 | ||||
| 2014 | |||||||
| Democrats | 46 | 226 | 272 | ||||
| Republicans | 85 | 40 | 125 | ||||
| Total | 131 | 266 | 397 | ||||
| 2012 | |||||||
| Democrats | 71 | 66 | 137 | ||||
| Republicans | 123 | 224 | 347 | ||||
| Other | N/A | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 194 | 294 | 488 | ||||
| 2010 | |||||||
| Democrats | 56 | 482 | 538 | ||||
| Republicans | 56 | 14 | 70 | ||||
| Other | N/A | 6 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 112 | 502 | 614 | ||||
Election analysis
Hundreds of elections took place in 2021 across the United States, including primary and general elections at the state and local levels and special elections at the federal, state, and local levels. You will find Ballotpedia's research and curation on 2021 elections in the United States below.
- Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection report
- Incumbent win rates by state
- Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
- Third-party candidates who won more than the margin of victory
- Number of state legislators by party
- Partisan balance of governors
- Results of elected officials seeking other offices
- State government trifectas
- State government triplexes
- State legislative races decided by fewer than 100 votes
- State legislative seats that changed party control
- State legislative veto-proof majorities
- Partisan balance of mayors of the 100 largest cities by population
See also
Footnotes
