Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Election results, 2023: State executive officials
State executive offices up for election in 2023 included gubernatorial, lieutenant gubernatorial, attorney general, and secretary of state offices in three states. Including down-ballot races, there were 36 state executive offices up for election.[1]
The three states holding such elections in 2023 were Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The November 7 elections kept the number of state government trifectas at 40—23 Republican and 17 Democratic—which was the highest number since at least 1992. Louisiana changed from a divided government to a Republican trifecta after Jeff Landry (R) was elected governor on Oct. 14. Kentucky remained a divided government after Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was re-elected governor.
After the elections, 10 states had divided governments where neither party held trifecta control. Before the 2023 elections, there were 22 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 11 divided governments where neither party held trifecta control.
State executives act in many capacities according to the powers granted to them by their state's constitution. 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.[2] 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.
Other common offices include lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, controller, auditor, and natural resources commissioner.
See below for information on:
- Offices up for election
- Total executive offices by party
- Current state government trifectas
- Current state government triplexes
Offices up for election
Total executive offices by party
Of the 36 state executive positions up for election in 2023, 29 were held by Republicans heading into the election, and 7 were held by Democrats.
The chart below shows a breakdown of partisan control by office type.
When the elections for these offices were last held in 2019, seven of the 36 races—four that Republicans won and three that Democrats won—were decided by a margin of seven points or less. This included the gubernatorial elections in all three states.
Pre-election state government trifectas
Pre-election state government triplexes
See also
- Election results, 2023
- Election results, 2023: State government trifectas
- Election results, 2023: State government triplexes
Analysis of state elections, 2023
State legislative elections
- See also: State legislative elections, 2023
Eight of the country's 99 state legislative chambers held regularly-scheduled elections in 2023. Elections in those eight chambers represented 578 of the country's 7,386 state legislative seats (7.8%). This was the most seats up for election in an odd-numbered year since 2011.
General elections in Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia took place on November 7, 2023. General elections in Louisiana took place on November 18, 2023.
- Democrats gained one state legislative chamber by winning partisan control of the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrats maintained control of the state Senate. Virginia's trifecta status remained divided.
- Republicans were guaranteed simple majorities in both Mississippi's House and Senate and Louisiana's House and Senate due to the number of districts where candidates from only one political party ran.
- Democrats maintained partisan control of both chambers of the New Jersey state legislature.
Analysis
- State legislative special elections
- Impact of term limits
- Primary competitiveness
- Incumbents defeated
- Contested primaries
- Open seats
- Incumbents in contested primaries
- Major party competition
- Annual report
- Veto-proof state legislatures and opposing party governors
- Rematches in 2023 general elections
- Ballotpedia's Top 15 Elections to Watch, 2023
- Election results, 2023: State legislative veto-proof majorities
- Uncontested races by state
- Incumbent win rates by state
- Results of elected officials seeking other offices
- Minor-party candidates who won more than the margin of victory
- State legislative seats that changed party control
- State legislative races decided by fewer than 100 votes
- State legislative elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2023
- Margin of victory analysis
- Candidates with the same last names
- Trends in the margins of victory for incumbents of three or more terms, 2018-2024
State executive elections
- See also: State executive official elections, 2023
Analysis
- State executive official elections overview
- Gubernatorial elections
- Secretary of State elections
- Attorney General elections
- Historical and potential changes in trifectas
- Trifecta vulnerability
- State government trifectas
- States with multiple statewide offices up for election
- State executive official elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2023
- Impact of term limits
- Annual State Executive Competitiveness Report, 2023
- Ballotpedia's Top 15 Elections to Watch, 2023
- Uncontested races by state
- Incumbent win rates by state
- Trends in the margins of victory for incumbents of three or more terms, 2018-2024
State judicial elections
- See also: State judicial elections, 2023
A total of 15 state appellate court seats were up for election in 2023. This includes:
- 2 supreme court seats
- 13 intermediate appellate court seats.
The number of state supreme court and intermediate court elections is subject to change if judges retire or are appointed.
Ballotpedia provided coverage of supreme court and intermediate appellate court elections, as well as local trial court elections for judges within the 100 largest cities in the United States as measured by population.
Analysis
- State supreme court elections, 2023
- State judicial elections, 2023
- Ballotpedia's Top 15 Elections to Watch, 2023
- Uncontested races by state
- Incumbent win rates by state
- Trends in the margins of victory for incumbents of three or more terms, 2018-2024
Footnotes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
