Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2011

Last updated on November 18, 2024

2011 State Legislative Competitiveness
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There were 578 state legislative seats up for election on November 8, 2011, in four states. Of that total, 312 (54.0%) were uncontested and had no major party competition. The remaining 266 (46.0%) were contested by both major parties.

A seat has major party competition when candidates from both major parties are on the general election ballot. When only one major party is running for a seat, it has no major party competition and is effectively guaranteed to the major party candidate on the ballot. Learn more about the terms and methodologies used in this analysis.

Ballotpedia uses the level of major party competition to help determine the overall competitiveness of an election cycle. A larger number of seats without major party competition indicates fewer options on the ballot. A smaller number indicates more options.

In 2011:

Democrats were guaranteed to win 126 seats (21.8%) that lacked Republican competition.

Republicans were guaranteed to win 185 seats (32.0%) that lacked Democratic competition.

Overall, Democrats ran for 392 seats (68%) and Republicans ran for 451 (78%).

There was one seat guaranteed to minor party or independent candidates because no major party candidates ran.

Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2011
Chamber	Seats
		Uncontested						Contested
		Only Democrats		Only Republicans		Total
		#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
House	407	100	24.6%	130	31.9%	231	56.8%	176	43.2%
Senate	171	26	15.2%	55	32.2%	81	47.4%	90	52.6%
Total	578	126	21.8%	185	32.0%	312	54.0%	266	46.0%

The chart below compares states by the percentage of seats contested by each of the major parties. In states located in the upper-right corner, almost all seats were contested by both major parties.