The impact of uncontested races in last year’s general election
Feb. 3, 2025
Introduction
According to BallotReady’s data, voters in almost every state this past November faced ballots where the majority of races had only one candidate. In total, 7 in 10 races went uncontested.
Of particular concern to Democrats, of the 20,000 uncontested partisan races last year, Republicans won nearly 80% of them.
These findings suggest significant opportunities for Democrat and third party candidates to offer voters more choices across a wide variety of positions on the ballot in the future.
In this first of it’s kind analysis, we take a look at the election results in uncontested races last Fall and the disparities that exist between the two parties.
Plus, see a sample of the underlying data behind this research and read about how our partner Contest Every Race is using it to recruit more candidates to run in previously uncontested races.
Republicans won more seats last Fall, but most wins were uncontested
Democrats and Republicans win uncontested races in many of the same states
Overall, 70% of Republican general election wins were in uncontested races, 53% for Democrats
See the full list of uncontested races in Kentucky’s general election – plus the candidate and party that won:
Open seats in the 2025
While presidential elections receive focus and investment, according to BallotReady research there are over 100,000 open seats for election in 2025, significantly exceeding the number in 2024.
In 2025, 46 out of 50 states will have open seats on the ballot, with most seats up for election at the local level.
This includes over 22,000 school board seats, 5,000 mayoral seats and 1,000 elected judges representing millions of Americans.
Our past research shows that without investment in targeted candidate recruitment, most of these races will go uncontested yet again. Plus, evidence shows that voter mobilization for seats like these in odd years has a positive impact on voter turnout in future election cycles.
Partner spotlight
Since its inception in 2018, BallotReady partner Contest Every Race (CER) has recruited over 10,000 Democrats to run for local office across the country. Of these, 43% won their races.
CER runs candidate recruitment programs focused on galvanizing every Democratic voter to run for local office. BallotReady officeholder and elections research is combined with county and state party intel to determine where we recruit. Our randomized controlled trials (RCT) find that our core recruitment tactics - texting, live coaching calls, and connecting prospects with county parties - increase the likelihood of filing a Democrat in an otherwise uncontested office.
Over 40% of county parties say they are unable to identify any prospective candidates for any local races, and despite their efforts, all races go uncontested by Republicans in their areas. Local parties cite needing help identifying potential candidates as their top demand.
In late 2023, CER started supporting county parties with prospective candidate identification and a grants incentive, training, and tools module for prospect outreach.
Since then, county parties have reported recruiting 3,722 candidates.