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Election results, 2020: Uncontested races by state
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Last updated: December 16, 2020
This content is part of Ballotpedia's analysis of the 2020 elections. For comprehensive election results, click here.
Ballotpedia covered all federal and state races on November 3, 2020, as well as local elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. In the 2020 general election, an average of 30% of seats nationwide were uncontested. This percentage includes states where all seats on the ballot were contested.
The analysis below includes Ballotpedia's compiled data on the 9,671 seats that were on the ballot on November 3, 2020. A race was considered uncontested if the number of candidates who filed for election was less than or equal to the number of seats on the ballot.[1]
The table below shows the uncontested seat rate for each state and election type:
| 2020 uncontested seat rate by state | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Uncontested seats | Federal | State executive | State legislative | State judicial | Local | |
| Alabama | 72% | 38% | 20% | - | 100% | 86% | |
| Alaska | 23% | 0% | - | 24% | - | - | |
| Arizona | 36% | 0% | 0% | 22% | - | 43% | |
| Arkansas | 54% | 20% | - | 57% | - | 33% | |
| California | 12% | 0% | - | 4% | - | 13% | |
| Colorado | 11% | 0% | 17% | 8% | - | 26% | |
| Connecticut | 17% | 0% | - | 17% | - | - | |
| Delaware | 46% | 0% | 0% | 50% | - | - | |
| Florida[2] | 40% | 7% | - | 18% | - | 52% | |
| Georgia | 51% | 0% | 0% | 51% | - | 76% | |
| Hawaii[3] | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | - | 0% | |
| Idaho | 39% | 0% | - | 42% | - | 0% | |
| Illinois | 48% | 0% | - | 44% | 60% | 80% | |
| Indiana | 32% | 0% | 0% | 32% | - | 39% | |
| Iowa | 25% | 0% | - | 26% | - | - | |
| Kansas | 39% | 0% | 60% | 34% | - | 74% | |
| Kentucky | 40% | 0% | - | 36% | 0% | 63% | |
| Louisiana[4] | 47% | 0% | 0% | - | 60% | 50% | |
| Maine | 19% | 0% | - | 19% | - | - | |
| Maryland | 29% | 0% | - | - | - | 35% | |
| Massachusetts | 73% | 20% | 100% | 75% | - | 0% | |
| Michigan | 28% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 85% | 64% | |
| Minnesota | 17% | 0% | - | 2% | 80% | 75% | |
| Mississippi | 27% | 0% | - | 100%[5] | 50% | 0% | |
| Missouri | 43% | 0% | 0% | 46% | - | 41% | |
| Montana | 28% | 0% | 0% | 31% | 0% | - | |
| Nebraska | 41% | 0% | 43% | 20% | - | 50% | |
| Nevada | 35% | 0% | 0% | 27% | 33% | 44% | |
| New Hampshire | 3% | 0% | 0% | 3% | - | - | |
| New Jersey | 34% | 0% | - | 0%[6] | - | 57% | |
| New Mexico | 34% | 0% | 43% | 27% | 0% | 89% | |
| New York | 31% | 4% | - | 30% | - | 56% | |
| North Carolina | 31% | 7% | 0% | 6% | 0% | 68% | |
| North Dakota | 19% | 0% | 14% | 19% | 100% | - | |
| Ohio | 29% | 0% | 17% | 19% | 42% | 46% | |
| Oklahoma[7] | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | - | 0% | |
| Oregon | 14% | 0% | 0% | 13% | 25% | 18% | |
| Pennsylvania | 30% | 0% | 0% | 32% | - | - | |
| Rhode Island | 56% | 0% | - | 58% | - | - | |
| South Carolina | 43% | 0% | - | 47% | - | 27% | |
| South Dakota | 29% | 0% | 0% | 30% | - | - | |
| Tennessee | 46% | 10% | - | 49% | - | - | |
| Texas | 37% | 0% | 0% | 30% | 34% | 44% | |
| Utah | 32% | 0% | 43% | 22% | - | 70% | |
| Vermont | 25% | 0% | 0% | 26% | - | - | |
| Virginia | 14% | 8% | - | 0%[8] | - | 17% | |
| Washington | 14% | 0% | 0% | 11% | 73% | - | |
| West Virginia | 10% | 0% | 0% | 11% | - | - | |
| Wisconsin | 24% | 0% | - | 20% | - | 100% | |
| Wyoming | 60% | 0% | - | 61% | - | - | |
| Average | 30% | 3% | 16% | 27% | 48% | 40% | |
| Note: A dash ("-") indicates the state did not hold elections for the race type and 0% indicates the state did not have uncontested seats for the race type. | |||||||
Map
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Judicial retention races and races held in Washington, D.C. or the U.S. territories were not included in this analysis.
- ↑ In Florida, primary and general election races are canceled if only one candidate files for a seat. That candidate is elected without appearing on the ballot.
- ↑ In Hawaii, general election races are canceled if only one candidate advances from the primary election.
- ↑ Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary (November 3), and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation. If only one candidate files for a race, the primary election is canceled and the candidate is elected.
- ↑ One state legislative special election was on the November 3, 2020, ballot in Mississippi.
- ↑ Two state legislative special elections were on the November 3, 2020, ballot in New Jersey.
- ↑ In Oklahoma, primary and general election races are canceled if only one candidate files for a seat or if only one candidate advances from the primary.
- ↑ One state legislative special election was on the November 3, 2020, ballot in Virginia.
