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State executive official elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2026

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Ballotpedia is tracking state executive races without a Democratic or Republican candidate in the 2026 elections. As of February 2026, there are a total of five state executive races without a Democratic candidate and one state executive race without a Republican candidate.[1] State executive offices up for election in 2026 include 36 gubernatorial seats, 31 lieutenant gubernatorial seats, 30 attorney general seats, and 26 secretary of state seats. Including down-ballot races, there are 300 state executive offices up for election across 43 states in 2026.[2]

Heading into the 2026 elections, the partisan balance of state executive officials nationally is as follows:

  • 24 Democratic governors and 26 Republican governors
  • 21 Democratic lieutenant governors and 24
  • 22 Democratic attorneys general, 27 Republican attorneys general, one nonpartisan attorney general
  • 22 Democratic secretaries of state 25 Republican secretaries of state

State executives act in many capacities according to the powers granted to them by their state constitutions. They are also charged with implementing and enforcing laws made by state legislatures. There are 748 executive seats spread across 13 distinct types of offices in the United States.[3] Of the 13 executive offices, only seven exist in all 50 states: governor, attorney general, superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner.

State executive offices up for election in 2025 included two gubernatorial seats, two lieutenant gubernatorial seats, and one attorney general seat. Including down-ballot races, there were eight state executive seats up for election across four states in 2025.[4]

State executive offices up for election in 2024 included 11 gubernatorial seats, nine lieutenant gubernatorial seats, 10 attorney general seats, and seven secretary of state seats. Including down-ballot races, there were 167 state executive seats up for election across 30 states in 2024.


Races without Democratic candidates

Races without Republican candidates

Totals over time

Change over time
Date Number of filing deadlines passed Seats without a Democratic candidate Seats without a Republican candidate
February 17, 2026 9[5] 5 1
February 13, 2026 8[6] 5 1

Methodology

There are several methodological choices that Ballotpedia makes in calculating the number of races without a Democratic or Republican candidate on this page:

  • State executive electoral districts can be either single-member districts (only one seat is up for election in a single district) or multi-member districts (more than one seat is up for election in a single district). Regardless of district type, this page counts races without a Democratic or Republican candidate, not seats. This means that if an multi-member district race with three seats up for election in a single year has a Democratic or Republican candidate file for any one of those seats, the race is counted as having a Democratic or Republican candidate and is not factored into the numbers reported on this page.
  • Write-in candidates are not counted as candidates for the purpose of races without a Democratic or Republican candidate. However, if a write-in candidate advanced from a primary to a general election and became a regular candidate on the general election ballot, that race is counted as having a major party candidate.
  • Candidates who unofficially withdraw from a race but will still appear on the ballot are counted as candidates for the purpose of this analysis. This means that a race will not count as a race without a Democratic or Republican candidate if an unofficially withdrawn candidate still appears on the ballot.
  • In California and Washington state, which have top-two primary systems, a race is counted as not having a Democratic or Republican candidate if no candidate from a major party advanced from the primary election to the general election.
  • This analysis only includes races in states where the candidate filing deadline has passed. However, Ballotpedia's 2026 analysis of U.S. House races without a major party candidate also includes elections in states whose filing deadlines have not passed.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The analysis on this page only includes data from filing deadlines that have passed where the candidate list has been released and finalized.
  2. ↑ Ballotpedia describes the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state as top-ballot state executive offices. Down-ballot state executive offices that exist in all 50 states include superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner. Examples of other down-ballot state executive offices include treasurer, auditor, and comptroller.
  3. ↑ There are 13 state executive offices as Ballotpedia defines the term, however, there are other executive offices that Ballotpedia does not cover in some states.
  4. ↑ Ballotpedia describes the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state as top-ballot state executive offices. Down-ballot state executive offices that exist in all 50 states include superintendent of schools, insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner, labor commissioner, and public service commissioner. Examples of other down-ballot state executive offices include treasurer, auditor, and comptroller.
  5. ↑ Note: At the time of this update, candidate lists from Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah had not been finalized.
  6. ↑ Note: At the time of this update, candidate lists from Alabama, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah had not been finalized.
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