Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report: Vol. 1, 2011

2011 Competitiveness Overview
Primary competition (state comparison)
Incumbents with no challenges at all in 2011 Incumbents defeated • Victorious challengers • Primary competitiveness
Major party challengers (state comparison)
List of candidates with no competition
Open seats (state comparisons)
Impact of term limits on # of open seats Long-serving senators • Long-serving reps
Chart Comparing 2011 Results
Chart Comparing 2011 Results • Comparisons Between Years
Competitiveness Index • Absolute Index
2011 State Legislative Elections
Competitiveness Studies from Other Years
2007 • 2009 • 2010 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014

By Geoff Pallay

578 seats of the country's 7,384 state legislative seats were up for election in the November 8, 2011 state legislative elections.

This article is an overview of our analysis of the degree of competitiveness in 2011's state legislative elections. The analysis utilized this 3-factor "Competitiveness Index".

This report is organized into four sections. They are:

• Competitiveness overview
• Open seats
• Incumbents in contested primaries
• Major party competition

Competitiveness overview

Competitiveness refers to the presence of choice throughout the election cycle. A greater level of competitiveness means voters have the ability to make more decisions. A lower level of competitiveness equals fewer choices.

Ballotpedia uses three factors to determine state legislative competitiveness:

• Open seats, those where no incumbents filed to run;
• Incumbents in contested primaries, those who could potentially lose to challengers; and,
• Major party competition — where Democrats and Republicans meet head-to-head in the general election.

These percentages are averaged to produce a State Legislative Competitiveness Index, which can range from zero (least competitive) to 100 (most competitive).

Open seats

See also: Open seats in state legislative elections, 2011

There were 578 state legislative seats up for election in November in four states. Of that total, there were 98 open seats, guaranteeing at least 17% of all seats would be won by newcomers.

Ballotpedia uses the number and percentage of open seats to help determine the overall competitiveness of an election cycle. A greater number of open seats guarantees more newcomers entering legislatures and typically results in more candidates running for office. A smaller number of open seats guarantees fewer newcomers and typically results in fewer candidates running for office.

In 2011:

There were 48 open Democratic seats, those most recently held by Democrats at the time of filing.

There were 48 open Republican seats, those most recently held by Republicans at the time of filing.

There were two other open seats. This includes those most recently held by minor party or independent officeholders at the time of filing. It also includes seats where Ballotpedia could not determine partisan control due to redistricting.

Open state legislative seats, 2011
Chamber	Seats
		Democratic	Republican	Other	Total
					#	%
House	407	35	34	2	71	17.4%
Senate	171	13	14	0	27	15.8%
Total	578	48	48	2	98	17.0%

Incumbents in contested primaries

See also: State legislative incumbents in contested primaries, 2011

There were 578 state legislative seats up for election in November in four states. Overall, 485 incumbents filed for re-election and were running at the time of their respective primaries. Of that total, 104 incumbents faced contested primaries, representing 21% of all incumbents who filed for re-election.

Ballotpedia uses the number and percentage of incumbents in contested primaries to help determine the overall competitiveness of an election cycle. A larger number of contested primaries indicates more opportunities for voters to elect a non-incumbent to office. A smaller number indicates fewer of those opportunities.

In 2011:

There were 58 Democratic incumbents in contested primaries, representing 24% of all Democratic incumbents who filed for re-election.

There were 45 Republican incumbents in contested primaries, representing 19% of all Republican incumbents who filed for re-election.

There was one minor party or independent incumbent in a contested primary, representing 33% of all minor party or independent incumbents who filed for re-election.

State legislative incumbents in contested primaries, 2011
Chamber	Seats
		Democratic			Republican			Total
		Filed	Cont.	%	Filed	Cont.	%	Filed	Cont.	%
House	407	164	44	26.8%	172	30	17.4%	339	75	22.1%
Senate	171	76	14	18.4%	70	15	21.4%	146	29	19.9%
Total	578	240	58	24.2%	242	45	18.6%	485	104	21.4%

All contested primaries

See also: Contested state legislative primaries, 2011

This section shows figures on all contested state legislative primaries, regardless of whether an incumbent was present. There were 538 state legislative districts up for election nationwide, creating 874 possible primaries. Of that total, there were 194 contested primaries, meaning 22% of all primaries were contested.

In 2011:

There were 48 contested Democratic primaries, representing 14% of all possible Democratic primaries.

There were 65 contested Republican primaries, representing 17% of all possible Republican primaries.

There were 81 contested top-two/four primaries, representing 56% of all possible top-two/four primaries.

Contested state legislative primaries, 2011
Chamber	Districts
		Democratic		Republican		Top-two/four		Total
		#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
House	367	34	14.7%	37	14.7%	62	59.0%	133	22.6%
Senate	171	14	11.6%	28	22.2%	19	48.7%	61	21.3%
Total	538	48	13.6%	65	17.2%	81	56.3%	194	22.2%

Major party competition

See also: Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2011

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.

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%

See also

• State legislative elections, 2011
  • Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2011
  • Open seats in state legislative elections, 2011
  • Contested state legislative primaries, 2011
  • State legislative incumbents in contested primaries, 2011
  • Major party competition in state legislative elections, 2011
  • Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections, 2011
• Primary election competitiveness in state government, 2011