Only 19 state senate challengers topple incumbents in 2010
September 29, 2010
By Leslie Graves
In a year characterized at the national level by fierce primary contests, a Ballotpedia analysis indicates a much lower level of competitiveness in state senate primaries.
In 2010, state senate elections are being held in 43 states, with 1,167 state senate seats at stake. There was no primary challenger in 708 of the 1,167 state senate districts in play in 2010, leaving 459 districts with a primary.
A total of just 19 challengers in 11 states defeated an incumbent state senator, including 12 Democrats and 7 Republicans.
The 19 challengers who toppled an incumbent represent 4.1% of all 459 incumbent-challenger primary contests in 2010, and 1.6% of all state senate seats at stake in the year.
Six of the victorious challengers were from Maryland. Minnesota, New York and West Virginia each had two successful primary challengers, while Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Nevada had one each.
Successful Democratic Party challengers:
Maryland:
- Bill Ferguson, competing for District 46 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent George Della, who was first elected in 1982.
- Joanne Benson, competing for District 24 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent Nathaniel Exum, who was first elected in 1998.
- Karen Montgomery, competing for District 14 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent Rona Kramer, who was first elected in 2002.
- Victor Ramirez, competing for District 47 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent David Harrington, who has been in the seat since 2008.
- Roger Manno, competing for District 19 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent Michael Lenett, who was elected to the seat in 2006.
| 2010 State senate elections
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| AL • AK • AR • AR • CA • CO • CT • DE • FL • GA • HI • ID • IL • IN • IA • KY • ME • MD • MA • MI • MN • MO • MT • NE • NV • NH • NY • NC • ND • OH • OK • OR • PA • RI • SD • TN • TX • UT • VT • WA • WV • WI • WY |
| Parties with candidates |
| Impact of term limits |
| Successful challengers |
| Defeated incumbents |
| State house elections |
| State senate elections |
| State legislative elections |
Minnesota:
- Barbara Goodwin, competing for District 50 in the Minnesota State Senate, defeated incumbent Satveer Chaudhary, who was first elected in 2000.
New York:
- Tim Kennedy, competing for District 58 in the New York State Senate, defeated incumbent William Stachowski, who was first elected in 1980.
- J. Gustavo Rivera, competing for District 33 in the New York State Senate, defeated incumbent Pedro Espada, who was first elected in 2008.
South Dakota:
- Angie Buhl, competing for District 15 in the South Dakota State Senate, defeated incumbent one-term senator Kathleen Miles.
Washington:
- Nick Harper, competing for District 38 in the Washington State Senate, defeated incumbent Jean Berkey, who was first elected in 2000.
West Virginia:
- Gregory Tucker, competing for District 11 in the West Virginia State Senate, defeated incumbent Randy White, who was first elected in 1994.
Wisconsin:
- Chris Larson, competing for District 7 in the Wisconsin State Senate, defeated incumbent Jeffrey Plale, who was first elected in 2002.
Successful Republican Party challengers:
Alabama:
- Slade Blackwell, competing for District 15 in the Alabama State Senate, defeated incumbent Steve French, who was elected to the seat in 1998.
Arizona:
- Lori Klein, competing for District 6 in the Arizona State Senate, defeated incumbent David Braswell, who was appointed to the office in 2010.
Iowa:
- Roby Smith, competing for District 41 in the Iowa State Senate, defeated incumbent David Hartsuch, who was elected to the seat in 2006.
Maryland:
- Christopher Shank, competing for District 2 in the Maryland State Senate, defeated incumbent Donald Munson, who was elected to the seat in 1990.
Minnesota:
- Paul Gazelka, competing for District 12 in the Minnesota State Senate, defeated incumbent Paul Koering, who was elected to the seat in 1990.
Nevada:
- Elizabeth Halseth, competing for Clark 9 in the Nevada State Senate, defeated incumbent Dennis Nolan, who was elected to the seat in 2002.
West Virginia:
- David Nohe, competing for District 3 in the West Virginia State Senate, defeated incumbent Frank Deem, who was first elected in 1994.
(Note: The incumbent defeated by Lori Klein in Arizona had only been in office starting in 2010 as an appointee.)
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