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Statewide elections, 2010
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Gubernatorial elections
- See also: Gubernatorial elections, 2010
37 gubernatorial elections are scheduled for November 2, 2010. Of the 37 seats up for election, 19 are currently held by a Democrat and 18 by a Republican.
36 governorships were already up for election due to election cycles. When Utah's incumbent governor left to accept an ambassadorial position, his state called a special election, bringing to the total number of contests to 37, the most states that have ever elected a governor at once in U.S. history.
Combined with the fact that the partisan balance of power in the nation's legislatures and gubernatorial offices will impact mightily the redrawing of Congressional districts in 2011, the power at stake in 2010 has brought unprecedented attention to the gubernatorial elections.
2010 is also set the be America's most expensive gubernatorial cycle ever, with previous records for entire campaigns being smashed before primaries are even over.
Key race-trackers expect Republicans to pick up several seats, with the GOP pegged to pick up anywhere from 5 to 9 seats.[1][2][3] Many races are also still marked as competitive, though the number of races widely seen as toss-ups has fallen as primaries are settled and as the general election draws nearer.
In 15 of the seats up for election, the incumbent cannot run again because of term limits, leaving 22 seats guaranteed to be open to non-incumbents. Of the incumbent but limited-out governors, 8 are Democratic and 7 are Republican. It may be that incumbents eligible for another term yet unlikely to win declined to run; however, to date the primaries have been good to incumbents who are running. Only in Nevada has an incumbent seeing re-election lost his own party's primary. (One of the term-limited governors, Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming, at one point indicated he planned to challenge his state's term limits law; while he did win his legal battle to have the state's term limits invalidated, he has since declined to run for a third term.)
- Democratic governors who are limited-out are John Baldacci (Maine), Jennifer Granholm (Michigan), Bill Richardson (New Mexico), Brad Henry (Oklahoma), Ted Kulongoski (Oregon), Ed Rendell (Pennsylvania), Phil Bredesen (Tennessee) and Dave Freudenthal (Wyoming).
- Republican governors who are limited-out are Bob Riley (Alabama), Arnold Schwarzenegger (California), Sonny Perdue (Georgia), Linda Lingle (Hawaii), Donald Carcieri (Rhode Island), Mark Sanford (South Carolina), and Mike Rounds (South Dakota).
Some incumbent governors who are not limited-out are not running for re-election. It is estimated that six incumbent governors who could run again (two Democrats and four Republicans) are voluntarily choosing not to seek re-election.
- Democratic governors who are voluntarily choosing not to run for re-election are Bill Ritter (Colorado), Mark Parkinson (Kansas), and Jim Doyle (Wisconsin).
- Republican governors who could run again, but have said they will not, are Jodi Rell (Connecticut), Charlie Crist (Florida), Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota) and Jim Douglas (Vermont).
As of mid-August, 25 of the 37 gubernatorial primaries are settled. 12 states, Wyoming, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Hawaii, still have primaries elections ahead.
With the seven incumbents who are choosing not to run for re-election, and the 15 incumbents who are not legally able to run again, 22 of the 37 gubernatorial races in 2009 will feature faces that, if not altogether fresh to politics, are fresh to gubernatorial campaigns.
Lt. Governor campaigns
- See also: Lieutenant Governor elections, 2010
Secretary of State
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- See also: Secretary of State elections, 2010
Twenty-six secretary of state elections are scheduled for November 2, 2010. Of the 26 seats up for election, 14 are currently held by a Democrat and 12 by a Republican.
In four of the seats up for election, the incumbent cannot run again because of term limits, leaving ten seats guaranteed to be open to non-incumbents. Of the incumbent but limited-out secretaries of state, one is Democratic and three are Republican.
- The Democratic Secretary of State who is limited-out is Charlie Daniels (Arkansas)
- Republican secretaries of state who are limited-out are Todd Rokita (Indiana), Terri Lynn Land (Michigan), and Chris Nelson (South Dakota).
In mid-November 2009, it was estimated that five incumbent secretaries of state who could run again (three Democrats and two Republicans) voluntarily choose not to seek re-election. Three months later, however, only the three Democrats remained on the list as both of the Republicans (Karen Handel of Georgia and Ron Thornburgh of Kansas) resigned from office resulting in the governor from each of the respective states having to appoint a replacement; both appointees in these instances were already candidates seeking the statewide office in November.
- Democratic secretaries of state who are voluntarily choosing not to run for re-election are Susan Bysiewicz (Connecticut), Jennifer Brunner (Ohio) and Deborah L. Markowitz (Vermont). Bysiewicz, who over the course of two years switched campaigns from the gubernatorial race to the state attorney general contest, has decided to seek neither higher office nor re-election to her current position, Markowtiz is seeking to become governor and Brunner was in the hunt for her party's nomination for United States Senate, though she ultimately lost to the Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.
Attorney General
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Thirty attorney general elections are scheduled for November 2, 2010. Of the 30 seats up for election, 20 are currently held by a Democrat and 10 by a Republican.
In three of the seats up for election, the incumbent cannot run again because of term limits. Of the three incumbent but limited-out attorney generals, two are Democrats and one is Republican:
- The Democratic Attorney Generals of Arizona (Terry Goddard) and Rhode Island (Patrick Lynch) are term-limited out.
- The Republican Attorney General of Michigan who is limited-out is Mike Cox.
Several incumbent attorney generals have chosen not to run for re-election, in most cases because they are running for a different office. As of mid-April 2010, it is known that seven incumbent attorney generals who could run again (five are Democrats and two are Republicans) are voluntarily choosing not to seek re-election.
- Democratic attorney generals who are voluntarily choosing not to run for re-election are Jerry Brown (California), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Thurbert E. Baker (Georgia), and Drew Edmondson (Oklahoma). Of these five, Goddard, Brown, Baker, and Edmondson have sought each of their respective state's governorships; both Baker and Edmondson failed to receive their party's nomination in the primary while Brown and Goddard have successfully moved on to the general election in November. Blumenthal, on the other hand, is in the hunt for the United States Senate seat held by outgoing Democratic Senator Chris Dodd.
- Republican attorney generals who could run again, but have said they will not, are Bill McCollum (Florida) and Henry McMaster (South Carolina), both of whom had sought each of their respective state's governorships. McMaster ultimately lost the party nomination to State Representative Nikki Haley.
Judicial elections
- See: Judicial elections, 2010 on Judgepedia.
State Treasurer
- See also: State Treasurer elections, 2010
State legislatures
88 state legislative chamber elections are scheduled for November 2, 2010. Of the 88 chambers up for election, 52 are currently held by Democrats and 33 by Republicans. There are also 2 chambers that are equally split and one (Nebraska) which is officially non-partisan.
1,167 (59.2%) of the country's 1,971 state senate seats are up for re-election in November, and 4,958 (90.7%) of the country's 5,462 state house seats are up for re-election. Altogether, 6,125 of the country's 7,384 (82.9%) state legislative seats are up for re-election in this volatile election year.
The 11 chambers without elections in 2010 (except for an occasional special election), are the upper houses and lower houses in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, and the upper house (state senate) in Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina.
In the 43 state senate elections this fall, 14 states are impacted by term limits. There are 122 state senators who are ineligible to run in November because of term limits. Of the 122 ineligible incumbents, 55 are Democrats and 66 are Republicans (and 1 non-partisan senator).
Ballot measures
- See also: 2010 ballot measures
| 2010 ballot measures |
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Specifically, for the November 2, 2010 general election ballot 160 ballot questions have been certified in 37 states.[4] The 179 measures on the 2010 ballot amount to about 80% of the average of 220 ballot questions that have been on statewide ballots in the even-numbered years from 1990-2008.
5 political topics dominate the 2010 ballot, and 3 of the 5 most popular topics each relate to fiscal policy. The "Big 5" topics on the 2010 ballot are taxes, administration of government, elections and campaigns, bond issues and state budgets. The number of 2010 ballot measures relating to fiscal topics is an increase of about 13% over the number of such measures on the 2008 ballot.
The 2010 ballot includes fewer social issues (such as abortion, marriage, immigration, gambling) than has been the case in most recent years, although one of the most widely-remarked measures on the ballot, California's Proposition 19, is a classic in the genre.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2010 Governor's Race Ratings", August 12, 2010
- ↑ CQ Politics, "Race Rating Chart: Governor", accessed August 12, 2010
- ↑ Rothenberg Political Report, "Governor's Ratings", accessed August 12, 2010
- ↑ The District of Columbia also has a ballot measure on its November 2 ballot - Washington, D.C. Attorney General Selection (2010). On Ballotpedia, the DC ballot measure is counted as a local ballot measure, grouped in with local, city-wide ballot measures from cities such as Los Angeles, Houston or Detroit.
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