Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Results of elected officials seeking other offices, 2019
| 2019 State Legislative Elections | |
|---|---|
2020 »
« 2018
| |
 | |
2019 special elections | |
| 2019 Elections | |
|---|---|
| Choose a chamber below: | |
Sixty-nine state legislators ran for other elected positions in 2019, with 32 of them, or 46 percent, successfully winning election to a new position. This was the same percentage of state legislators running for other offices that won election to a new position in 2018.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives
One member of the House of Representatives in the 116th United States Congress sought election to statewide offices in 2019. Ralph Abraham (R-La.) ran for Governor of Louisiana. He came in third place in the top-two primary on October 12, 2019.
Members of State Legislatures
Sixty-nine state legislators ran for other elected positions in 2019, with 32 of them, or 46 percent, successfully winning election to a new position. Sixteen of these state legislators (23%) lost in the general election, while 21 (30%) were defeated in their party's primary.
The success rate for state senators seeking other offices was less than that for state representatives in 2019. Five of 13 state senators (38%) who ran for another office were successful, while 27 of 56 state representatives (48%) who ran for another office were successful.
| State legislators who ran for other offices in 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost in general | Lost in primary | Total | |
| State senators | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
| State representatives | 28 | 13 | 15 | 56 |
| Total | 33 | 16 | 20 | 69 |
The table below details the results of state legislators who ran for other offices in 2019 and the outcomes of those elections by state.
| State legislators who ran for other offices in 2019, by state | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | State Senators | State Representatives | ||||
| Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Won | Lost | Lost in primary | |
| California | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Connecticut | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Illinois | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Indiana | 1 | |||||
| Kansas | 1 | |||||
| Kentucky | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Louisiana | 2 | 10 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Massachusetts | 1 | |||||
| Minnesota | 1 | |||||
| Mississippi | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Missouri | 1 | 1 | ||||
| New Hampshire | 1 | |||||
| New York | 1 | 4 | ||||
| North Carolina | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Pennsylvania | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| South Carolina | 1 | |||||
| Tennessee | 1 | |||||
| Texas | 1 | |||||
| Virginia | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Totals | 5 | 3 | 5 | 28 | 13 | 15 |
- Note: Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia held regular state legislative elections in 2019.
State legislators who ran for other offices in 2019 by party
Among the two major parties, Republican state legislators who ran for other offices were more successful than Democrats in 2019. Fifty-three percent (18 out of 34) of Republican state legislators who ran for another office won election to a new position, while 40 percent (14 out of 35) of Democratic state legislators who ran for another office were successful.
| State legislators who ran for other offices in 2019, by party | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Total | |||||||
| Democratic Party | 14 | 11 | 10 | 35 | = | Republican Party | 18 | 5 | 11 | 34 |
| Total | 217 | 80 | 175 | 472 | ||||||
Positions sought by state legislators who ran for another offices in 2019
Here is the breakdown of the types of positions sought by state legislators who ran for other offices in 2019:
| Positions sought by state legislators who ran for another office in 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Lost in primary | Total | |
| U.S. House | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Governor | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| State executive offices other than governor | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| State senate seats | 20 | 6 | 8 | 34 |
| Judicial offices | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Municipal/school board offices | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
| Total | 32 | 16 | 21 | 69 |
Methodology
Ballotpedia identified those officeholders who were declared candidates for a position in the 2019 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.
See also
Footnotes
