Uncontested: The 35 House Districts With Only One Major Party on the Ballot
By 270toWin Staff
September 15, 2022, 1:38 PM ET
Updated to remove PA-15 Republican Glenn Thompson from the 'Totally Unopposed' List. Numbers have been updated in the article, as applicable.
As this year's primaries (view results by state) draw to a close, we count 35 U.S. House races where only one of the two major parties will be on the ballot. 23 of these are held by Republicans, 12 by Democrats.
16 incumbents have no opponent. In 13 other districts, opposition is from a 3rd party or independent candidate. Finally, in six California districts, Democrats won both positions in the top-two primary.
Looking back to similar races across the last two cycles, this year's total of 35 is in the middle. In 2018, there were 42 such races; that number declined to 27 in 2020.
Totally Unopposed
There are 16 incumbents - 13 Republicans and three Democrats - that have the ballot all to themselves. Their only opposition would be via write-in, where allowed.
In 2020, this number was 11, split more evenly with six Republicans and five Democrats.
District | Incumbent | District | Incumbent | ||
AZ-08 | Debbie Lesko | PA-14 | Guy Reschenthaler | ||
AZ-09 | Paul Gosar | SC-03 | Jeff Duncan | ||
FL-05 | John Rutherford | SC-04 | William Timmons | ||
IL-07 | Danny Davis | TX-06 | Jake Ellzey | ||
LA-04 | Mike Johnson | TX-11 | August Pfluger | ||
MA-04 | Jake Auchincloss | TX-25 | Roger Williams | ||
NY-13 | Adriano Espaillat | TX-31 | John Carter | ||
PA-13 | John Joyce | WI-06 | Glenn Grothman |
No Major Party Opposition
13 incumbents - 10 Republicans and three Democrats - face 3rd party or independent opponents. This list has grown from eight in 2020.
District | Incumbent | District | Incumbent | ||
AL-01 | Jerry Carl | NY-09 | Yvette Clarke | ||
AL-06 | Gary Palmer | PA-03 | Dwight Evans | ||
CA-10 | Mark DeSaulnier | SD-AL | Dusty Johnson | ||
FL-06 | Michael Waltz | TX-19 | Jodey Arrington | ||
FL-18 | Scott Franklin | TX-26 | Michael Burgess | ||
LA-061 | Garret Graves | WI-08 | Mike Gallagher | ||
ND-AL | Kelly Armstrong |
1Not a perfect fit for the list, as there is a second Republican on the ballot in this all-party primary. Should Graves fail to get a majority of the vote, there will be a top-two runoff. In that scenario, if the other Republican also advances, this election will move to the 'Same Party Opposition' list.
Same Party Opposition
California and Washington hold top-two primaries, where all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot. The two highest finishers go on to the general election. Six districts - all in California - advanced two Democrats.
In 2020, there were eight such districts, seven in California and one in Washington.
District | Incumbent | District | Incumbent | ||
CA-152 | Jackie Speier | CA-30 | Adam Schiff | ||
CA-16 | Anna Eshoo | CA-34 | Jimmy Gomez | ||
CA-29 | Tony Cardenas | CA-372 | Karen Bass |
2Incumbents - based on where they likely would have run after redistricting - are retiring from the House.