Today’s downballot statewide officeholder is tomorrow’s Senator or Governor. Though these offices tend to get lost in the shuffle of sexier races, they’re important for party-building. So I’ve taken a look at what statewide races are on the ballot to see where each party stands.
A very big chart in png format (I couldn’t find an easy way to convert a spreadsheet with background colors to html) follows. Sorry, smaller monitored folks.
Note: Incumbents with primaries on 9/14 include DE-Treasurer, RI-Lt. Governor, RI-Secretary of State, and WI-Treasurer.
As the key says, dark red is for offices with Republican incumbents, light red is for open Republican seats, dark blue for Democratic incumbents, and light blue for open Democratic seats. I’ve also noted which seats have incumbents that were appointed to their position, and which seats are unopposed by the other party. And for the “Other” category, I’ve specified what the other officeholder’s title is.
Interestingly, despite the surfeit of Republican candidates, seven statewide posts were left unchallenged, only one less than the number of seats the Democrats didn’t field candidates for.
Trouble spots for the Democrats include the number of open spots in Georgia and Oklahoma. Not a lot of vulnerable open Republican seats, though — FL-Attorney General, VT-Lt. Governor, and OH-Auditor seem to be the best chances. I’m not nearly familiar enough with the incumbents to make any judgments there, though.