On the Ballot Episode 132 The most competitive state legislatures this Fall

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On The Ballot is a podcast presented by Ballotpedia that connects people to politics.

Each week, Ballotpedia's election experts will unpack the week's top political stories. Ballotpedia's here to give you the facts, so you can form your own opinion. Stream On the Ballot on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Episode #132

The most competitive state legislatures this Fall

On this episode: A complete breakdown of our 14th Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report, which analyzes all 5,807 state legislative seats that are up for election on November 5, 2024, in 44 states. Overall, our research found that state legislative competitiveness in 2024 was below average for even years from 2010 to 2024. Looking at averages across the last three even-year election cycles: 2024 had fewer open seats, incumbents in contested primaries, and seats with major competition.

Key findings you’ll hear about in this episode include:

  • 965 seats were open (16.6%). This was the second-smallest number of open seats since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2010.
  • 1,047 incumbents faced contested primaries (21.6%). This was roughly average compared to previous years, down from 27% in 2022 but higher or the same as the 20% and 22% in 2020 and 2018, respectively.
  • 3,580 seats are contested by both major parties (61.6%), higher than in 2022 (59.2%) but lower than in 2018 (66.3%) and 2020 (65.2%).

Guest(s): Doug Kronaizl, Staff Writers at Ballotpedia

Key Highlights

  • Read the full report here

On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at ontheballot@ballotpedia.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia.




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