Republican Party Battleground Primaries, 2020

2020 Republican Party primary elections
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Last updated: September 11, 2020
General elections are often the focal point of election-year media coverage as they determine control of elected offices up and down the ballot. Primary elections, however, can provide insight on future elections as they help dictate the direction each party takes.

Although many of the most competitive primaries take place for open seats or offices that are held by a different party, even high-ranking federal officeholders can lose renomination to primary challengers. In the 2014 primary for Virginia's 7th Congressional District, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R), ranked behind only then-Speaker John Boehner (R) in Republican House leadership, was defeated by economics professor Dave Brat (R).

On this page, you will find information on noteworthy and notable Republican Party primaries taking place across the country for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state executive offices, and state legislatures. The page also includes information about notable top-two primaries for Republican seats.

Ballotpedia identified 75 Republican battleground primaries in 2020.

Click here for information on Democratic Party battleground primaries in 2020.

Criteria[edit]

It is typically difficult to predict how competitive primaries will be until after filing deadlines take place. However, Ballotpedia used a number of factors to give insight into the most interesting 2020 primary elections. Factors that were used to determine the competitiveness of primaries included:

• Whether or not the seat was open (retiring or resigning incumbent)
• Notable endorsements of multiple candidates
• Significant fundraising from multiple candidates
• Number of candidates
• Incumbent's years in office (if seeking re-election)
• Whether or not the district's general election was expected to be a battleground

U.S. Senate primaries[edit]

The following map shows each state with a Republican battleground primary for U.S. Senate in 2020. Use the buttons in the upper-right hand corner of the map or your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Hover over or tap a state to view the incumbent's name. There were seven U.S. Senate Republican battleground primaries in 2020.

U.S. Senate Republican battleground primaries, 2020
State	Primary date	Primary winner	Incumbent	Open seat?	MOV in 2014[1]
Alabama	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville Tommy Tuberville	Doug Jones	d	D+1.7
Arizona	August 4, 2020	Martha McSally	Martha McSally	d	R+13.0
Kansas	August 4, 2020	Roger Marshall	Pat Roberts		R+10.6
New Hampshire	September 8, 2020	Bryant Messner	Jeanne Shaheen	d	D+3.3
Oregon	May 19, 2020	Jo Rae Perkins	Jeff Merkley	d	D+23.3
Tennessee	August 6, 2020	Bill Hagerty	Lamar Alexander		R+30.0
Wyoming	August 18, 2020	Cynthia Lummis	Mike Enzi		R+54.8

U.S. House primaries[edit]

The following map shows each U.S. House district with a Republican battleground primary in 2020. Use the buttons in the upper-right hand corner of the map or your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Hover over or tap a district to view the incumbent's name. There were 53 U.S. House Republican battleground primaries in 2020.

U.S. House Republican battleground primaries, 2020
District	Primary date	Primary winner	Incumbent	Open seat?	MOV in 2018
Alabama's 1st District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Jerry Carl and Bill Hightower Jerry Carl	Bradley Byrne		R+26.4
Alabama's 2nd District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Barry Moore	Martha Roby		R+23.0
Florida's 3rd District	August 18, 2020	Kat Cammack	Ted Yoho		R+15.2
Florida's 13th District	August 18, 2020	Anna Paulina Luna	Charlie Crist	d	D+15.2
Florida's 15th District	August 18, 2020	Scott Franklin	Ross Spano	d	R+6.0
Florida's 19th District	August 18, 2020	Byron Donalds	Francis Rooney		R+24.6
Florida's 26th District	August 18, 2020	Carlos Gimenez	Debbie Mucarsel-Powell	d	D+1.8
Georgia's 7th District	June 9, 2020	Rich McCormick	Rob Woodall		R+0.2
Georgia's 9th District	June 9, 2020 August 11, 2020 runoff	Matt Gurtler and Andrew Clyde Andrew Clyde	Doug Collins		R+59.0
Georgia's 14th District	June 9, 2020 August 11, 2020 runoff	Marjorie Taylor Greene and John Cowan Marjorie Taylor Greene	Tom Graves		R+53.0
Illinois' 6th District	March 17, 2020	Jeanne M. Ives	Sean Casten	d	D+7.2
Illinois' 14th District	March 17, 2020	Jim Oberweis	Lauren Underwood	d	D+5.0
Illinois' 15th District	March 17, 2020	Mary Miller	John Shimkus		R+41.8
Indiana's 5th District	June 2, 2020	Victoria Spartz	Susan Brooks		R+13.6
Iowa's 4th District	June 2, 2020	Randy Feenstra	Steve King	d	R+3.3
Kansas' 1st District	August 4, 2020	Tracey Mann	Roger Marshall		R+36.2
Kansas' 2nd District	August 4, 2020	Jacob LaTurner	Steve Watkins	d	R+0.8
Kansas' 3rd District	August 4, 2020	Amanda Adkins	Sharice Davids	d	D+9.7
Kentucky's 4th District	June 23, 2020	Thomas Massie	Thomas Massie	d	R+27.6
Maine's 2nd District	July 14, 2020	Dale Crafts	Jared Golden	d	D+1.2
Michigan's 3rd District	August 4, 2020	Peter Meijer	Justin Amash		R+11.2
Michigan's 10th District	August 4, 2020	Lisa McClain	Paul Mitchell		R+25.3
Minnesota's 7th District	August 11, 2020	Michelle Fischbach	Collin Peterson	d	D+4.3
Mississippi's 3rd District	March 10, 2020	Michael Guest	Michael Guest	d	R+25.6
Montana's At-Large District	June 2, 2020	Matt Rosendale	Greg Gianforte		R+4.7
Nevada's 3rd District	June 9, 2020	Dan Rodimer	Susie Lee	d	D+9.1
New Hampshire's 1st District	September 8, 2020	Matt Mowers	Chris Pappas	d	D+8.6
New Jersey's 2nd District	July 7, 2020	Jeff Van Drew	Jeff Van Drew	d	D+7.7
New Jersey's 3rd District	July 7, 2020	David Richter	Andrew Kim	d	D+1.3
New Mexico's 2nd District	June 2, 2020	Yvette Herrell	Xochitl Torres Small	d	D+1.8
New York's 2nd District	June 23, 2020	Andrew Garbarino	Peter King		R+6.2
New York's 27th District	June 23, 2020	Christopher Jacobs	Vacant		R+0.3
North Carolina's 11th District	March 3, 2020 June 23, 2020 runoff	Madison Cawthorn	Mark Meadows		R+20.5
Oklahoma's 5th District	June 30, 2020 August 25, 2020 runoff	Stephanie Bice and Terry Neese Stephanie Bice	Kendra Horn	d	D+1.4
Oregon's 2nd District	May 19, 2020	Cliff Bentz	Greg Walden		R+16.9
Pennsylvania's 1st District	June 2, 2020	Brian Fitzpatrick	Brian Fitzpatrick	d	R+2.6
Pennsylvania's 7th District	June 2, 2020	Lisa Scheller	Susan Wild	d	D+8.0
South Carolina's 1st District	June 9, 2020	Nancy Mace	Joe Cunningham	d	D+1.4
Tennessee's 1st District	August 6, 2020	Diana Harshbarger	Phil Roe		R+56.1
Texas' 7th District	March 3, 2020	Wesley Hunt	Lizzie Pannill Fletcher	d	D+5.0
Texas' 11th District	March 3, 2020	August Pfluger	Mike Conaway		R+61.7
Texas' 12th District	March 3, 2020	Kay Granger	Kay Granger	d	R+30.4
Texas' 13th District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Ronny Jackson	Mac Thornberry		R+64.6
Texas' 17th District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Pete Sessions	Bill Flores		R+15.5
Texas' 22nd District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Troy Nehls	Pete Olson		R+4.9
Texas' 23rd District	March 3, 2020 July 14, 2020 runoff	Tony Gonzales and Raul Reyes Jr. Tony Gonzales	Will Hurd		R+0.5
Texas' 32nd District	March 3, 2020	Genevieve Collins	Colin Allred	d	D+6.5
Utah's 1st District	June 30, 2020	Blake Moore	Rob Bishop		R+36.7
Utah's 4th District	June 30, 2020	Burgess Owens	Ben McAdams	d	D+0.2
Virginia's 2nd District	June 23, 2020	Scott Taylor	Elaine Luria	d	D+2.3
Virginia's 5th District	June 13, 2020	Bob Good	Denver Riggleman	d	R+6.6
Virginia's 7th District	July 18, 2020	Nick Freitas	Abigail Spanberger	d	D+1.9
Wisconsin's 5th District	August 11, 2020	Scott Fitzgerald	Jim Sensenbrenner		R+24.0

State executive primaries[edit]

The following map shows each state with Republican state executive battleground primaries in 2020. Hover over or tap a state for information on which primaries are battlegrounds and who the incumbent is in each. There were eight Republican state executive battleground primaries in 2020.

Republican state executive battleground primaries, 2020
State	Primary date	Primary winner	Incumbent	Open seat?	MOV in 2016
Indiana Attorney General	June 22 - July 9, 2020[2]	Todd Rokita	Curtis Hill	d	R+23.9
Governor of Missouri	August 4, 2020	Mike Parson	Mike Parson	d	R+5.9
Governor of Montana	June 2, 2020	Greg Gianforte	Steve Bullock		D+3.9
Secretary of State of Montana	June 2, 2020	Christi Jacobsen	Corey Stapleton		R+14.5
Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina	March 3, 2020	Mark Robinson	Dan Forest		R+6.6
Governor of Utah	June 30, 2020	Spencer Cox	Gary R. Herbert		R+38.1
Attorney General of Utah	June 30, 2020	Sean Reyes	Sean Reyes	d	R+40.3
Governor of West Virginia	June 9, 2020	Jim Justice	Jim Justice	d	D+6.8

State legislative primaries[edit]

The following map shows each state with a Republican state legislative primary battleground chamber in 2020. Hover over or tap a state for more information on which chambers are battlegrounds and how many seats Democrats control in each. There were seven Republican primary battleground chambers in 2020.

Top-two primaries for Republican seats[edit]

See also: Top-two battleground primaries, 2020

There were two top-two battleground primaries for Republican-held seats in 2020.

California uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.^[3][4]

Unlike the top-two format used in some states (Louisiana and Georgia special elections for example), a general election between the top-two candidates in California occurs regardless of whether the top candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round of elections.

As of October 2025, California was one of five states to use a top-two primary system, or a variation of the top-two system for some or all statewide primaries. See here for more information.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Top-two battleground primaries for Republican-held seats, 2020
Office	Primary winners	Incumbent	Open seat?	MOV in 2018
California's 22nd	Devin Nunes Phil Arballo	Devin Nunes	d	R+5.4
California's 50th	Ammar Campa-Najjar Darrell Issa	Vacant (Previous: Duncan Hunter)		R+3.4

Change log[edit]

This section lists every change that was made to our battleground list since we launched the page in September 2019.

• August 7, 2020: Removed two battleground races from the list: MN-02 and WI-07.

• July 27, 2020: Removed one battleground race from the list: AZ-04.

• July 10, 2020: Added three battleground races to the list: FL-13, FL-26, and Alaska State Senate.

• July 6, 2020: Added one battleground race to the list: NH-01.

• May 18, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: OR-Sen and NJ-03. Removed two races: IA-02 and Montana Attorney General.

• April 26, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: AZ-04 and South Dakota State Senate.

• April 8, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: VA-02 and VA-05.

• March 31, 2020: Added one battleground race to the list: Utah Attorney General.

• March 23, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: FL-15 and NV-03.

• March 15, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: TX-23 and Montana Attorney General.

• March 1, 2020: Added five battleground races to the list: NM-02, NY-02, OR-02, UT-04, and Montana Secretary of State.

• February 14, 2020: Removed two battleground races from the list: TX-23 and TX-24.

• February 7, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: TN-Sen and TX-12.

• January 31, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: GA-09 and GA-14.

• January 24, 2020: Added nine battleground races to the list: KY-04, MS-03, Indiana Attorney General, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, Alaska House of Representatives, Kansas State Senate and House of Representatives, Ohio House of Representatives, and Texas House of Representatives

• January 13, 2020: Added eight battleground races to the list: IA-02, MN-02, NC-11, OK-05, TN-01, TX-13, TX-32, and VA-07. Removed NC-Sen.

• January 3, 2020: Added two battleground races to the list: FL-03 and NJ-02. Removed two battleground races from the list: GA-06 and NC Gov.

• December 3, 2019: Added one battleground race to the list: PA-7.

• November 15, 2019: Added one battleground race to the list: FL-19.

• September 18, 2019: Added five battleground races to the list: NH Senate, GA-6, GA-7, KS-3, and TX-23.

• September 12, 2019: Launched initial battlegrounds list with 35 races.^[5]

2018 battlegrounds[edit]

See also: Republican Party battleground primaries, 2018

Ballotpedia identified 78 Republican federal and state battleground primaries in 2018. There were eight senate battleground primaries, 43 house battleground primaries, and 27 state executive battleground primaries.

Disputes between potential members of the House Freedom Caucus and other members of the Republican Party occurred in U.S. House primaries in 2018.

Led by U.S. Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the House Freedom Caucus supported candidates who were likely to join its ranks if elected to the House.^[6][7] Other wings of the Republican Party, including those aligned with House Republican leadership, often preferred candidates not aligned with the Freedom Caucus.

The Freedom Caucus said it "gives a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them" and supported "open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans."^[8] The Pew Research Center said the group formed in January 2015 "with the declared aim of pushing the House GOP leadership rightward on certain fiscal and social issues" and wanted "power shifted away from the leadership to the rank-and-file."^[9]

Other House Republican caucuses more closely allied with leadership included the Republican Main Street Partnership, which aimed for "conservative, pragmatic, solutions-oriented policies that can gain support from legislators on both sides of the aisle," and the Republican Study Committee, which "is dedicated to a limited and Constitutional role for the federal government, a strong national defense, the protection of individual and property rights, and the preservation of traditional family values."^[10][11]

Scott Wong wrote for The Hill that the primaries were a "proxy battle over how much influence...the Freedom Caucus can exert over the House GOP conference next year— and who might lead Republicans after retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) steps down."^[10] Jordan emerged as a speaker contender and announced he would run for the position against Ryan's preferred candidate, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).^[10] After Republicans lost their majority in the general elections, McCarthy defeated Jordan in a contest for Republican minority leader. The vote was 159 to 43.^[12]

To detail this fight, we identified competitive open Republican primaries where the Freedom Caucus or its leaders backed a candidate.^[13] We also considered primaries where candidates said they would join the Freedom Caucus if elected.

The chart below shows a summary of results in the competitive open Republican primaries we tracked where either the Freedom Caucus or its leaders backed a candidate.^[14]

Top 10 Republican primaries in 2018[edit]

The list below was selected by Ballotpedia staff at the end of the 2018 primary season. Click the links to learn more about each primary.

1. Arizona Senate (August 28)
   
2. South Carolina's 1st Congressional District (June 12)
   
3. Florida governor (August 28)
   
4. Georgia governor (May 22) & runoff (July 24)
   
5. Kansas governor (August 7)
   
6. Ohio's 12th Congressional District (May 8)
   
7. Wyoming governor (August 21)
   
8. Minnesota's 1st Congressional District (August 14)
   
9. Texas state legislative Republican primaries (March 6 and May 22)
   
10. Michigan's 11th Congressional District (August 7)
    

See also[edit]

• Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering primary elections

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