U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2020
Ballotpedia tracked U.S. House races without a Democratic or Republican candidate in the 2020 elections. In 2020, a total of 8 U.S. House races did not have a Democratic candidate and 19 U.S. House races did not have a Republican candidate.[1] Click here for information comparing U.S. House races with only one major party candidate in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Races without Democratic candidates
- Alabama's 5th Congressional District
- Alabama's 6th Congressional District
- Arkansas' 1st Congressional District
- Florida's 2nd Congressional District
- Florida's 25th Congressional District
- Mississippi's 4th Congressional District
- South Dakota's At-Large Congressional District
- Virginia's 9th Congressional District
Races without Republican candidates
- Alabama's 7th Congressional District
- California's 12th Congressional District
- California's 18th Congressional District
- California's 29th Congressional District
- California's 34th Congressional District
- California's 38th Congressional District
- California's 44th Congressional District
- California's 53rd Congressional District
- Illinois' 8th Congressional District
- Massachusetts' 1st Congressional District
- Massachusetts' 3rd Congressional District
- Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District
- Massachusetts' 8th Congressional District
- New York's 5th Congressional District
- New York's 16th Congressional District
- North Carolina's 12th Congressional District
- Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District
- Tennessee's 5th Congressional District
- Washington's 10th Congressional District
Map of races without a Democratic or Republican candidate
Totals over time
| Change over time | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Seats without a Democratic candidate | Seats without a Republican candidate |
| October 28, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| October 21, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| October 14, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| October 7, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| September 30, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| September 23, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| September 16, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| September 9, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| September 2, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| August 26, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| August 19, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| August 12, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| August 5, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| July 29, 2020 | 8 | 19 |
| July 22, 2020 | 11 | 22 |
| July 15, 2020 | 11 | 22 |
| July 8, 2020 | 11 | 21 |
| July 1, 2020 | 13 | 21 |
| June 24, 2020 | 14 | 21 |
| June 17, 2020 | 14 | 21 |
| June 10, 2020 | 14 | 21 |
| June 3, 2020 | 16 | 22 |
| May 27, 2020 | 19 | 25 |
| May 20, 2020 | 21 | 27 |
| May 13, 2020 | 24 | 27 |
| May 6, 2020 | 25 | 31 |
| April 29, 2020 | 25 | 31 |
| April 22, 2020 | 25 | 33 |
| April 15, 2020 | 26 | 38 |
Historical data
Every two-year election cycle, some Democrats or Republicans win U.S. House elections without major-party opposition. From 1920 to 2018, there were 2,434 U.S. House races without a Republican candidate in the general election compared to 707 races without a Democratic candidate.
- In 2018, 41 of the 435 U.S. House races lacked either a Democratic or Republican candidate in the general election. Three of the 41 races did not have a Democratic candidate on the ballot, and the remaining 38 did not have a Republican candidate running.
- In comparison, there were 61 such seats in 2016 and 76 in 2014. The number of seats without a Democratic candidate dropped over the course of the three election cycles; it fell from 36 in 2014 to three in 2018. In comparison, 40 U.S. House races did not have a Republican candidate in 2014 compared to 38 in 2018.
The election years that had the most races without major-party opposition were 1930 (99), 1998 (95), 1942 (89), 1958 (89), and 1934 (83). Conversely, the election years with the fewest races of that nature were 1996 (21), 2010 (29), 1992 (31), 1932 (35), and 2018 (41).
On average across the 50 election cycles from 1920 to 2018, about 62.8 U.S. House races had only one major party represented on the general election ballot. During that timeframe, Democrats averaged 14.1 U.S. House races per cycle compared to 48.7 races for Republicans. In the 10 election cycles spanning 2000 to 2018, the average dropped to 57.4 races. In the 40 election cycles spanning 1920 to 1998, the average rose to 64.2 races. Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming were the only states that had a Democratic and Republican candidate on every U.S. House ballot from 1920 to 2018.
Methodology
There are several methodological approaches Ballotpedia used to calculate the number of races without a Democratic or Republican candidate on this page:
- Write-in candidates were 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 candidate was counted for the purpose of races without a Democratic or Republican candidate.
- Candidates who unofficially withdrew from a race but still appeared on the ballot were counted as candidates for the purpose of this analysis. This meant that a race did not count as a race without a Democratic or Republican candidate if an unofficially withdrawn candidate still appeared on the ballot.
- In California and Washington state, which have top-two primary systems, a race was 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.
See also
- U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 1920-2018
- United States Congress elections, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- United States Senate elections, 2020
- State legislative elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2020
- State executive official elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2020
- U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2018
Footnotes
- ↑ In California and Washington state, which have top-two primary systems, a race was included if no candidate from a major party advanced to the general election
