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Open seats in state legislative elections, 2019

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Last updated on November 18, 2024
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There were 538 state legislative seats up for election in November 2019 in four states. Of that total, there were 105 open seats, guaranteeing at least 20% of all seats would be won by newcomers. This was the highest number and percentage of open seats since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2011.

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 2019:

  • There were 38 open Democratic seats, those most recently held by Democrats at the time of filing.
  • There were 65 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.
  • The total number of open seats—105—was the highest since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2011, representing a 33% increase from 2015, which was the last time all four states held elections.



    • Open state legislative seats, 2019
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 407 29 42 2 73 17.9%
    Senate 131 9 23 0 32 24.4%
    Total 538 38 65 2 105 19.5%


    Click [show] on the table below to view open seat statistics by state in 2019. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Historical comparison

    The chart below shows a breakdown of open seats from 2011 to 2019. The "Other" value includes seats left open by minor party and independent officeholders.


    Click [show] on the table below to view overall open seat statistics by state from 2011 to 2019. 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, 60 seats (41.7%) were open.

    In 2019

    Statistics from 2019 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Louisiana, 2019
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 105 18 23 2 43 41.0%
    Senate 39 5 12 0 17 43.6%
    Total 144 23 35 2 60 41.7%

    2011-2019

    Historical open seat statistics are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Louisiana, 2011-2019
    Year Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    2011 144 19 16 1 36 25.0%
    2013 Did not hold elections.
    2015 144 18 16 0 34 23.6%
    2017 Did not hold elections.
    2019 144 23 35 2 60 41.7%


    See also:

    Mississippi

    There were 174 seats up for election in Mississippi. Of that total, 25 seats (14.4%) were open.

    In 2019

    Statistics from 2019 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Mississippi, 2019
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 122 5 8 0 13 10.7%
    Senate 52 4 8 0 12 23.1%
    Total 174 9 16 0 25 14.4%

    2011-2019

    Historical open seat statistics are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Mississippi, 2011-2019
    Year Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    2011 174 13 14 0 27 15.5%
    2013 Did not hold elections.
    2015 174 13 10 0 23 13.2%
    2017 Did not hold elections.
    2019 174 9 16 0 25 14.4%


    See also:

    New Jersey

    There were 80 seats up for election in New Jersey. Of that total, four seats (5.0%) were open.

    In 2019

    Statistics from 2019 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in New Jersey, 2019
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 80 1 3 0 4 5.0%
    Senate Did not hold elections
    Total 80 1 3 0 4 5.0%

    2011-2019

    Historical open seat statistics are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in New Jersey, 2011-2019
    Year Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    2011 120 7 8 0 15 12.5%
    2013 120 4 2 0 6 5.0%
    2015 80 5 2 0 7 8.8%
    2017 120 5 8 0 13 10.8%
    2019 80 1 3 0 4 5.0%


    See also:

    Virginia

    There were 140 seats up for election in Virginia. Of that total, 16 seats (11.4%) were open.

    In 2019

    Statistics from 2019 are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Virginia, 2019
    Chamber Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    House 100 5 8 0 13 13.0%
    Senate 40 0 3 0 3 7.5%
    Total 140 5 11 0 16 11.4%

    2011-2019

    Historical open seat statistics are shown below. Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.

    Open state legislative seats in Virginia, 2011-2019
    Year Seats
    Democratic Republican Other Total
    # %
    2011 140 9 10 1 20 14.3%
    2013 100 2 6 1 9 9.0%
    2015 140 7 8 0 15 10.7%
    2017 100 1 6 0 7 7.0%
    2019 140 5 11 0 16 11.4%


    See also:

    Impact of term limits

    See also: Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2019

    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 2019, 47 state legislators—16 state senators and 31 state representatives—were term-limited. This represented 9% of the 538 total seats up for election, and 45% of the 105 open seats.[1]


    2019 term-limited incumbents
    Party # of termed senators # of termed representatives Total
    Democratic 4 13 17
    Republican 12 17 29
    Independent 0 1 1
    Total 16 31 47


    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.

    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 47 term-limited state legislators in 2019 may have resigned before their term ended. These legislators were still counted in the total number of term-limited legislators in 2019.
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