State legislative elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2026
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Ballotpedia is tracking state legislative races without a Democratic or Republican candidate in the 2026 elections. As of February 2026, there were 147 state legislative races without a Democratic candidate and 130 state legislative races without a Republican candidate.[1]
Click here for historical information comparing state legislative races with only one major party candidate in even-year elections.
In the 50 states, there are 99 state legislative chambers altogether. Eighty-eight of those chambers are holding legislative elections in 2026. The general election for state legislative races will be held on November 3, 2026.
- Click here for the list of races without a Democratic candidate
- Click here for the list of races without a Republican candidate
Races without Democratic candidates
- Districts 2, 7, 10, 11, 21, 24, 28, 31, 32, & 35
- Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 23, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52, 57, 58, 59, 61, 68, 78, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, & 99
- Districts 41, 44, 47, 50, 51, 53, & 54
- Districts 20, 37, 63, 79, 82, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94, 95, 99, 100, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 115, 116, & 117
- Districts 2, 4, 16, 18, 22, 28, 30, 32, & 38
- Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 37, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 61, 63, 71, 72, 74, 78, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 94, 98, & 100
- Districts 14 & 79
Races without Republican candidates
- Districts 14, 15, & 30
- Districts 20, 21, 22, 49, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 73, 74, 77, 79, & 80
- Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 20, 30, & 39
- Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 40, 43, 50, 58, 59, 60, 62, 67, 72, 86, 91, 92, 96, 103, & 113
- Districts 30, 32, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 57, & 79
- Districts 20, 27, 28, 38, & 39
- Districts 2, 11, 29, 30, 31, 34, 38, 40, 42, 45, 50, 54, 56, 57, 58, 61, 66, 71, 72, 92, 99, 100, 101, 103, 106, 107, 112, 114, & 116
- Districts 13 & 26
- Districts 22, 36, 39, 46, 49, 75, 78, 90, 95, 101, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 120, & 123
Democratic and Republican races without major party opposition
Totals over time
| Change over time | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Number of filing deadlines passed | Races without a Democratic candidate | Races without a Republican candidate |
| February 17, 2026 | 11[2] | 147 | 130 |
| February 12, 2026 | 11[3] | 147 | 130 |
Historical context
Races with and without major party opposition: 2010 - 2024 (even years)
The table below shows state legislative races with and without major party opposition for even-year races between 2010 and 2022. Even-year elections have significantly more state legislative seats up for election than odd-year elections do, making direct comparisons between years like 2021 and 2022 uninformative when it comes to races with and without major party opposition.
| Races with and without major party opposition: 2010 - 2022 (even years) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total races | Races without major party opposition | Races with major party opposition |
| 2024 | 5,807 | 2,005 (35 percent) | 3,802 (65 percent) |
| 2022 | 6,278 | 2,560 (41 percent) | 3,718 (59 percent) |
| 2020 | 5,875 | 2,048 (35 percent) | 3,827 (65 percent) |
| 2018 | 6,073 | 2,017 (33 percent) | 4,056 (67 percent) |
| 2016 | 5,923 | 2,477 (42 percent) | 3,446 (58 percent) |
| 2014 | 6,057 | 2,606 (43 percent) | 3,451 (57 percent) |
| 2012 | 6,015 | 2,307 (38 percent) | 3,708 (62 percent) |
| 2010 | 6,125 | 2,000 (33 percent) | 4,125 (67 percent) |
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 legislative 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 a 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, the race is counted as having a major party candidate.
- Candidates who officially withdraw from a race are not counted as candidates for the purpose of this analysis.
- 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.
- The analysis does not include special elections for state legislative seats. It also does not include regular elections for legislative offices in the U.S. territories.
- 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
- Competitiveness reports: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
- State legislative elections, 2026
- State legislative special elections, 2026
- State executive official elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2026
- State legislative elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2024
Footnotes
- ↑ The analysis on this page only includes data from filing deadlines that have passed where the candidate list has been released and finalized. Find more information here on each state's filing deadline in 2026.
- ↑ Note: At the time of this update, candidate lists from Alabama, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, and West Virginia had not been finalized.
- ↑ Note: At the time of this update, candidate lists from Alabama, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, West Virginia had not been finalized.
