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Incumbent
An incumbent is a candidate for political office who currently holds the office being sought. An incumbent may belong to one of the following three categories:[1]
- Incumbency by seat, in which a candidate seeks re-election to the exact office he or she currently holds; for example, a current representative in District 1 may seek re-election to District 1.
- Incumbency by constituency, in which a candidate seeks election to an office whose constituency is substantively similar to his or her current constituency even though seat or district numbers have changed; for example, a current representative in District 1 may, as the result of redistricting, now reside in District 2, which might share much of the same constituency as the previous District 1.
- Incumbency by chamber, in which a candidate seeks election to a different seat within the same chamber in which he or she currently serves; for example, a current representative in District 2 may, as the result of redistricting, now reside in District 3, whose constituency is not substantively similar to his previous constituency.
When identifying incumbents, Ballotpedia applies the third definition, with two exceptions.
- If a judge who has been assigned to a court (instead of elected or appointed) runs for election to a seat on that same court, Ballotpedia does not mark that judge as an incumbent.
- If seats within a chamber have dissimilar powers and duties, Ballotpedia only marks the official who currently holds those powers and duties as the incumbent. This is most often seen in leadership positions, such as the chief judge position on a state court.
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. Ballotpedia also marks incumbency by election date. If an officeholder leaves office while running for re-election, and thus is no longer holding office as of the date of the election, Ballotpedia will unmark that officeholder as an incumbent.
Click here to read more about Ballotpedia's editorial approach to election coverage.
See also
Footnotes
