Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2017

Last updated on November 18, 2024

2017 State Legislative Competitiveness
2019 » « 2015
Analyses
Annual Report Open seats • Contested primaries • Incumbents in contested primaries • Major party competition • Uncontested incumbents • Incumbents defeated Primary statistics
2017 elections
State legislative • State executive officials
Reports by year
Select year2022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010Submit

There were 220 state legislative seats up for election on November 7, 2017, in two states. Of that total, 45 (21%) were uncontested and had no major party competition. The remaining 175 (80%) were contested by both major parties. This was the smallest number and percentage of seats with no major party competition since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2011.

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 2017:

Democrats were guaranteed to win 33 seats (15%) that lacked Republican competition, a 32% increase from 2013.

Republicans were guaranteed to win 12 seats (6%) that lacked Democratic competition, a 67% decrease from 2013.

Overall, Democrats ran for 208 seats (95%) and Republicans ran for 187 (85%).

The total number of seats without major party competition—45—was less than in 2013 (61), the last time both states held elections, representing a 26% decrease.

Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2017
Chamber	Seats
		Uncontested						Contested
		Only Democrats		Only Republicans		Total
		#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
House	180	30	16.7%	12	6.7%	42	23.3%	138	76.7%
Senate	40	03	7.5%	00	0.0%	03	7.5%	37	92.5%
Total	220	33	15.0%	12	5.5%	45	20.5%	175	79.5%

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.