Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2013

Last updated on November 18, 2024

2013 State Legislative Competitiveness
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There were 220 state legislative seats up for election on November 5, 2013, in two states. Of that total, 61 (28%) were uncontested and had no major party competition. The remaining 159 (72%) 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 2013:

Democrats were guaranteed to win 25 seats (11%) that lacked Republican competition, down from 22% in 2011.

Republicans were guaranteed to win 36 seats (16%) that lacked Democratic competition, down from 32% in 2011.

Overall, Democrats ran for 184 seats (84%) and Republicans ran for 195 (89%).

The total percentage of seats without major party competition—28%—was down from 54% in 2011.

Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2013
Chamber	Seats
		Uncontested						Contested
		Only Democrats		Only Republicans		Total
		#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
House	180	24	13.3%	35	19.4%	59	32.8%	121	67.2%
Senate	40	01	2.5%	01	2.5%	02	5.0%	38	95.0%
Total	220	25	11.4%	36	16.4%	61	27.7%	159	72.3%

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.