From Ballotpedia Every two years, regular elections are held for the full membership of the United States House of Representatives. Over the past 100 years, 14.4% of all U.S. House general elections had only one major party candidate.[1] This page compiles a list of which districts those were and how many there were each cycle from 1920 to 2018.
In 2018, 41 of the 435 U.S. House seats had only one major party candidate on the ballot in the general election. In comparison, there were 61 such seats in 2016 and 76 in 2014. The 2018 cases consisted of three seats with no Democratic candidate on the general election ballot and 38 seats without a Republican candidate. The number of seats without a Democratic candidate dropped over the course of the three election cycles; it fell from 36 in 2014 to three in 2018. In comparison, 40 U.S. House races did not have a Republican candidate in 2014 compared to 38 in 2018.
From 1920 to 2018, there were 2,434 U.S. House races without a Republican candidate in the general election compared to 707 races without a Democratic candidate. During that time span, only the following six states had a Democratic and a Republican candidate for each of their U.S. House elections every cycle: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming. Excluding those states, seven states (Connecticut, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah) had Republican candidates every cycle, and six states (Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and West Virginia) had Democratic candidates every cycle.[2]
The following table lists the percentage of districts in each state that had only one major party candidate in at least one general election between 2014 and 2018:
| U.S. House districts with only one major party candidate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | Districts with only one major party candidate | Total districts in state | Percentage with only one major party candidate |
| Alabama | 4 | 7 | 57.1% |
| Alaska | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Arizona | 3 | 9 | 33.3% |
| Arkansas | 3 | 4 | 75.0% |
| California | 20 | 53 | 37.7% |
| Colorado | 0 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Connecticut | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Delaware | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Florida | 10 | 27 | 37.0% |
| Georgia | 10 | 14 | 71.4% |
| Hawaii | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Idaho | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Illinois | 4 | 18 | 22.2% |
| Indiana | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Iowa | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Kansas | 1 | 4 | 25.0% |
| Kentucky | 2 | 6 | 33.3% |
| Louisiana | 4 | 6 | 66.7% |
| Maine | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| Maryland | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Massachusetts | 6 | 9 | 66.7% |
| Michigan | 2 | 14 | 14.3% |
| Minnesota | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Mississippi | 1 | 4 | 25.0% |
| Missouri | 0 | 8 | 0.0% |
| Montana | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Nebraska | 1 | 3 | 33.3% |
| Nevada | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| New Jersey | 0 | 12 | 0.0% |
| New Mexico | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| New York | 12 | 27 | 44.4% |
| North Carolina | 2 | 13 | 15.4% |
| North Dakota | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Ohio | 1 | 16 | 6.3% |
| Oklahoma | 1 | 5 | 20.0% |
| Oregon | 1 | 5 | 20.0% |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 18 | 22.2% |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 2 | 0.0% |
| South Carolina | 2 | 7 | 28.6% |
| South Dakota | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Tennessee | 1 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Texas | 18 | 36 | 50.0% |
| Utah | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Vermont | 1 | 1 | 100.0% |
| Virginia | 4 | 11 | 36.4% |
| Washington | 4 | 10 | 40.0% |
| West Virginia | 0 | 3 | 0.0% |
| Wisconsin | 3 | 8 | 37.5% |
| Wyoming | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
Click on the tabs below for lists of which U.S. House district elections did not have a Democratic or a Republican candidate from 1920 through 2018:[3][4]
Every U.S. House race had a Democratic candidate in the general election in 1932.
The following graph and table show how many U.S. House races did not have a Democratic or a Republican candidate from 1920 through 2018:
| Number of races without a major party candidate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Races without a Democratic candidate | Races without a Republican candidate | Total races with only one major party candidate |
| 2018 | 3 | 38 | 41 |
| 2016 | 27 | 34 | 61 |
| 2014 | 36 | 40 | 76 |
| 2012 | 25 | 20 | 45 |
| 2010 | 24 | 5 | 29 |
| 2008 | 14 | 42 | 56 |
| 2006 | 11 | 45 | 56 |
| 2004 | 36 | 29 | 65 |
| 2002 | 44 | 37 | 81 |
| 2000 | 31 | 33 | 64 |
| 1998 | 56 | 39 | 95 |
| 1996 | 12 | 9 | 21 |
| 1994 | 34 | 17 | 51 |
| 1992 | 11 | 20 | 31 |
| 1990 | 33 | 48 | 81 |
| 1988 | 18 | 60 | 78 |
| 1986 | 17 | 53 | 70 |
| 1984 | 14 | 51 | 65 |
| 1982 | 10 | 43 | 53 |
| 1980 | 13 | 33 | 46 |
| 1978 | 18 | 46 | 64 |
| 1976 | 5 | 41 | 46 |
| 1974 | 1 | 55 | 56 |
| 1972 | 8 | 43 | 51 |
| 1970 | 5 | 55 | 60 |
| 1968 | 7 | 39 | 46 |
| 1966 | 4 | 53 | 57 |
| 1964 | 1 | 42 | 43 |
| 1962 | 1 | 56 | 57 |
| 1960 | 3 | 73 | 76 |
| 1958 | 1 | 88 | 89 |
| 1956 | 3 | 60 | 63 |
| 1954 | 2 | 75 | 77 |
| 1952 | 3 | 73 | 76 |
| 1950 | 1 | 81 | 82 |
| 1948 | 7 | 58 | 65 |
| 1946 | 5 | 66 | 71 |
| 1944 | 4 | 51 | 55 |
| 1942 | 5 | 84 | 89 |
| 1940 | 1 | 57 | 58 |
| 1938 | 2 | 73 | 75 |
| 1936 | 6 | 46 | 52 |
| 1934 | 1 | 82 | 83 |
| 1932 | 0 | 35 | 35 |
| 1930 | 26 | 73 | 99 |
| 1928 | 10 | 47 | 57 |
| 1926 | 23 | 51 | 74 |
| 1924 | 21 | 43 | 64 |
| 1922 | 28 | 47 | 75 |
| 1920 | 36 | 45 | 81 |
Categories: [Congress elections, 2018, details and analysis] [Congress elections, 2020, details and analysis] [Storylines, 2018] [Storylines, 2020] [U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate]