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Election results, 2025: Results of elected officials seeking other offices
In 2025, 30 officials, including members of the United States House of Representatives and state legislatures, ran for a different office than the one to which they were elected.
Four members of the House of Representatives in the 118th and 119th Congresses and 26 state legislators sought election to a different office in 2025. Among House members, two (50%) won election to the offices they sought—both statewide offices. One (25%) lost in their party's primary for statewide office and one (25%) withdrew from their party's primary for state legislative office.
Four (33%) of the 12 state senators who ran for another office were successful, while one (8%) lost in the general election and seven (58%) lost in the primary.
Among state representatives, seven (50%) of those who ran for another office were successful. Four (29%) of them lost in the general election and three (21%) lost in the primary.
Zero percent of state legislative Republicans who sought election to other offices in 2025 won. This is less than the average success rate (43%) of Republicans who sought other offices from 2018 to 2025.
Forty-six percent of state legislative Democrats who sought election to other offices in 2025 won. This is more than the average success rate (45%) of Democrats who sought other offices from 2018 to 2025.
On this page, you'll find information on elected officials from these levels of government who ran for other offices in 2025:
You can also find information on the state legislators who ran for other offices broken down by party and a state by state breakdown of where legislators ran. To read about the methodology used on this page, click here.
This page focuses on elected officials from these levels of government who ran for other offices in 2025. For more in-depth information on officials from previous years, see the following pages:
- Election results, 2023: Results of elected officials seeking other offices
- Election results, 2021: Results of elected officials seeking other offices
Congress
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
Four members of the House of Representatives in the 118th and 119th Congresses sought election to a different office in 2025. Two (50%) won election to the offices they sought—both statewide offices. One (25%) lost in their party's primary for statewide office and one (25%) withdrew from their party's primary for state legislative office. All four were Democrats.
Positions sought by U.S. House members who ran for other offices in 2025
Of the two who won election to the positions they were seeking:
- One was elected Governor of New Jersey
- One was elected Governor of Virginia
Of the one who lost in their party's primary:
- One lost their party's primary for Governor of New Jersey
Of the one who withdrew from their party's primary:
- One withdrew from their party's primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 7
The table below lists the U.S. House members who ran for another office in 2025, the office they sought, and the outcome of that election.
| Representative | Party | Previous office | Office sought in 2025 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herbert C. Conaway Jr. |  Democratic |
New Jersey's 3rd | New Jersey General Assembly | Withdrew from primary |
| Josh Gottheimer | Democratic |
New Jersey's 5th | Governor of New Jersey | Lost primary |
| Mikie Sherrill | Democratic |
New Jersey's 11th | Governor of New Jersey | Won general election |
| Abigail Spanberger | Democratic |
Virginia's 7th | Governor of Virginia | Won general election |
Members of state legislatures
Twenty-six state legislators ran for other elected positions in 2025. That's the fewest number of state legislators running for another office since Ballotpedia began collecting these data in 2018. Eleven of them, or 42%, successfully won election to a new position. Five of these state legislators (19%) lost in the general election, while 10 (38%) lost in their party's primary.
Fifty-five fewer state legislators ran for another office in 2025 than in 2023, the previous odd election year, when 81 state legislators ran.
Success rate
The overall success rate of state legislators who sought other offices in 2025 was 42%. That's the second-lowest success rate since 2018. The lowest success rate was in 2021, when 34% of state legislators who sought other offices won.
Success rate by chamber
The success rate for state representatives seeking other offices was more than that for state senators in 2025. Seven (50%) of 14 state representatives who ran for another office were successful. Four (29%) of them lost in the general election and three (21%) lost in the primary. Four (33%) of the 12 state senators who ran for another office were successful, while one (8%) lost in the general election and seven (58%) lost in the primary.
| Chamber | Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Senate | 4 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| State House | 7 | 4 | 3 | 14 |
| Total | 11 | 5 | 10 | 26 |
State legislators who ran for other offices in 2025 by party
Among the two major parties, more Democratic state legislators sought other offices in 2025 than Republican ones. Twenty-four Democratic state legislators ran for other offices in 2025, while two Republican legislators did. In 2023, the previous odd election year, 39 Democratic state legislators ran for other offices, and 42 Republicans did.
State legislators who ran for other offices, by state
The table below details the results of state legislators who ran for other offices in 2025 and the outcomes of those elections by state.
| State legislators who ran for other offices in 2025, by state | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | State Senators | State Representatives | ||||
| Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Won | Lost | Lost in primary | |
| AL | 1 | |||||
| LA | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| MI | 2 | 1 | ||||
| MN | 1 | 1 | ||||
| MO | 1 | |||||
| MS | 1 | |||||
| NE | 1 | |||||
| NJ | 1 | |||||
| NY | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
| OH | 1 | |||||
| PA | 1 | |||||
| VA | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Totals | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Positions sought by state legislators who ran for another offices in 2025
Here is the breakdown of the types of positions sought by state legislators who ran for other offices in 2025:
| Positions sought by state legislators who ran for another office in 2025 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of office | Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Total | |
| Governor | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| State executive offices other than governor | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Judicial offices | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Municipal/school board offices | 9 | 5 | 8 | 22 | |
| Total | 11 | 5 | 10 | 26 | |
Methodology
Ballotpedia identified those officeholders who were declared candidates for a position in the 2025 elections that was different from what they held prior to the November elections. Candidates who resigned their office before the election, either because they were required to by state law to run for another office (resign-to-run laws), or to better focus on their campaign for the new office, were still considered to be an elected official of their previous office for this analysis.
Legislators who ran for other seats in the same legislative chamber in which they served due to redistricting were not included in this analysis.
Candidates who won election by winning their primary outright were considered to have won their general election. Candidates who lost their party's nomination at a convention and candidates who lost in a primary runoff were considered to have lost in the primary.
This analysis doesn't include special elections.
See also
- United States Congress elections, 2025
- Election results, 2023: Results of elected officials seeking other offices
- State legislative elections, 2025
- Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2025
Footnotes
