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Open seats in state legislative elections, 2011

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There were 578 state legislative seats up for election in November in four states. Of that total, there were 98 open seats, guaranteeing at least 17% of all seats would be won by newcomers.

An open seat is one where no incumbent filed to run, meaning it is guaranteed to be won by a newcomer. Learn more about the terms and methodologies used in this analysis.

Ballotpedia uses the number and percentage of open seats to help determine the overall competitiveness of an election cycle. A greater number of open seats guarantees more newcomers entering legislatures and typically results in more candidates running for office. A smaller number of open seats guarantees fewer newcomers and typically results in fewer candidates running for office.

In 2011:

  • There were 48 open Democratic seats, those most recently held by Democrats at the time of filing.
  • There were 48 open Republican seats, those most recently held by Republicans at the time of filing.
  • There were two other open seats. This includes those most recently held by minor party or independent officeholders at the time of filing. It also includes seats where Ballotpedia could not determine partisan control due to redistricting.



    • Open state legislative seats, 2011
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 407 35 34 2 71 17.4%
    Senate 171 13 14 0 27 15.8%
    Total 578 48 48 2 98 17.0%


    Click [show] on the table below to view open seat statistics by state in 2011. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    By state

    Overview

    Louisiana

    There were 144 seats up for election in Louisiana. Of that total, 36 seats (25.0%) were open.

    In 2011

    Statistics from 2011 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Louisiana, 2011
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 105 13 13 1 27 25.7%
    Senate 39 6 3 0 9 23.1%
    Total 144 19 16 1 36 25.0%


    See also:

    Mississippi

    There were 174 seats up for election in Mississippi. Of that total, 27 seats (15.5%) were open.

    In 2011

    Statistics from 2011 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Mississippi, 2011
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 122 10 8 0 18 14.8%
    Senate 52 3 6 0 9 17.3%
    Total 174 13 14 0 27 15.5%


    See also:

    New Jersey

    There were 120 seats up for election in New Jersey. Of that total, 15 seats (12.5%) were open.

    In 2011

    Statistics from 2011 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in New Jersey, 2011
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 80 6 6 0 12 15.0%
    Senate 40 1 2 0 3 7.5%
    Total 120 7 8 0 15 12.5%


    See also:

    Virginia

    There were 140 seats up for election in Virginia. Of that total, 20 seats (14.3%) were open.

    In 2011

    Statistics from 2011 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Virginia, 2011
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 100 6 7 1 14 14.0%
    Senate 40 3 3 0 6 15.0%
    Total 140 9 10 1 20 14.3%


    See also:

    Impact of term limits

    See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2011

    A seat can become open when an incumbent is term-limited. Fifteen state legislatures have term limits, which require incumbents to leave office after serving a certain length of time.

    In 2011, 16 state legislators—six state senators and 10 state representatives—were term-limited. This represented 2.8% of the 578 total seats up for election, and 16.3% of the 98 open seats.[1]


    Chamber with limits Majority party Seats in chamber Up for election in 2011 Seats impacted by term limits Party with most losses
    Louisiana: (Senate), (2011 elections) Republican Party 39 39 5 Democratic Party + 1 Republican Party = 6 Democratic Party
    Louisiana: (House), (2011 elections) Republican Party 105 105 5 Democratic Party + 4 Republican Party + 1 Independent = 10 Democratic Party
    Totals: (2) Republican Party 144 144 10 Democratic Party + 5 Republican Party + 1 Grey.png = 16 2 Democratic Party

    Terms and methodologies

    Incumbent

    See also: Incumbent

    Ballotpedia defines incumbency by chamber. Under this definition, if an incumbent in House District 1 filed for re-election in House District 2, they would still be counted as an incumbent due to their remaining in the same chamber even though they ran for a different seat. If an incumbent in House District 1 filed to run in Senate District 2, they would not be counted as an incumbent in the Senate race since they are coming from a different chamber.

    Ballotpedia uses the term re-elect to refer to any incumbent who is running in an election to retain their office, including incumbents who were originally appointed to their position.

    Open seat

    An open seat is one where no incumbents filed to run, or filed but withdrew and did not appear on any ballot for the seat. Open seat figures freeze at the time of the primary unless an incumbent did not participate in the primary but later chose to seek re-election as a minor party or independent candidate, in which case the seat for which they filed would not be counted as open.

    If a seat was open at the time of the primary, but a non-incumbent candidate later assumed office (via special election or appointment), the seat would still be counted as open since the original incumbent did not file to run in the primary.

    Seat

    State legislative seats represent the total number of candidates who can be elected. These totals may differ from state legislative districts.

    In most states, every state legislative district includes a single seat. These are referred to as single-member state legislative districts.

    Certain states have multi-member state legislative districts, where a single district contains multiple seats. In these districts, open seat figures pertain to individual seats. For example, if a multi-member district contains three seats and two incumbents file for re-election but one does not, that one seat would be counted as an open seat.

    Effect of redistricting

    During redistricting, states may restructure their legislative chambers either by renaming districts, moving districts, or, in states with multi-member districts, changing the allocation of seats between districts. States may also choose to change the total number of seats in a chamber either by creating new seats or removing existing seats.

    Ballotpedia categorizes open seats by the party of the incumbent who most recently represented that seat leading up to the election. In certain circumstances, redistricting can prevent that categorization. For example, if a multi-member district with a Democratic and Republican incumbent becomes a single-member district that is open, Ballotpedia categorizes that open seat as "Other" rather than categorizing it as one of those two parties since it is unclear to which party that would apply. Or if a district that previously had a single seat is changed to have three seats, all of which are open, one seat would be categorized as the party that previously held the single seat and the remaining two seats would be categorized as "Other."

    During redistricting, incumbents may also choose to run for different seats within the same chamber. That distinction is explained below.

    Difference between open seats and retiring incumbents

    An open seat is one where no incumbents filed to run. Typically, this occurs when an incumbent leaves office. But incumbents may choose to run for some other seat within the same chamber. When this happens, that incumbent's original seat can be left open without the incumbent leaving office.

    See also

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Some of the 16 term-limited state legislators in 2011 may have resigned before their term ended. These legislators are still counted in the total number of term-limited legislators in 2011.
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