On the Ballot

How competitive are state legislatures this year?


Listen Later

On this episode: A complete breakdown of our 14th Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report, which analyzes all 5,807 state legislative seats that are up for election on November 5, 2024, in 44 states. Overall, our research found that competitiveness in 2024 was below average for even years from 2010 to 2024. Looking at averages across the last three even-year election cycles: 2024 had fewer open seats, incumbents in contested primaries, and seats with major competition.


Key findings you’ll hear about in this episode include:

  • 965 seats were open (16.6%). This was the second-smallest number of open seats since Ballotpedia began gathering data in 2010.

  • 1,047 incumbents faced contested primaries (21.6%). This was roughly average compared to previous years, down from 27% in 2022 but higher or the same as the 20% and 22% in 2020 and 2018, respectively.

  • 3,580 seats are contested by both major parties (61.6%), higher than in 2022 (59.2%) but lower than in 2018 (66.3%) and 2020 (65.2%).

  • Read the report here: https://ballotpedia.org/Annual_State_Legislative_Competitiveness_Report:_Vol._14,_2024 


    Sign up for our Newsletters: https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia_Email_Updates 


    Stream "On the Ballot" on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you have questions, comments, or love for BP, feel free to reach out at [email protected] or on X (formerly Twitter) @Ballotpedia.


    *On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    On the BallotBy Ballotpedia

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    4 ratings


    More shows like On the Ballot

    View all
    This American Life by This American Life

    This American Life

    91,009 Listeners

    The Daily by The New York Times

    The Daily

    112,956 Listeners

    The Journal. by The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

    The Journal.

    6,114 Listeners

    Fiction - Comedy Fiction by The Sunset Explorers

    Fiction - Comedy Fiction

    6,446 Listeners

    The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

    The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

    10,980 Listeners