2020 United States elections


The 2020 United States elections will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate, and the office of President of the United States will be contested. Thirteen state and territorial governorships, as well as numerous other state and local elections, will also be contested.
Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party will nominate their respective presidential tickets at party conventions held in late August. Incumbent president Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, having faced token opposition in the 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries. Joe Biden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee after securing a majority of delegates in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Various other third party and independent candidates, including Jo Jorgensen of the Libertarian Party and Howie Hawkins of Green Party, are also seeking the presidency.
Democrats have held a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives since the 2018 elections, while Republicans have held control of the U.S. Senate since the 2014 elections. Barring vacancies and party-switching, Democrats will enter the election with control of approximately 232 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, while Republicans will enter the 2020 elections with control of 53 of the 100 seats in the Senate. All 33 Class 2 senators are up for election, and two states are holding special elections for the Senate. The six non-voting congressional delegates from the District of Columbia and the permanently inhabited U.S. territories will also be elected.
Regularly-scheduled elections will be held in 86 of the 99 state legislative chambers, and eleven states will hold gubernatorial elections. Various other state executive and judicial elections will also occur. The outcome of these state elections will have a major impact on the redistricting cycle that will take place following the 2020 United States Census. Various referendums, tribal elections, and local elections, including numerous mayoral races, will also take place in 2020.

Federal elections

Presidential election

The U.S. presidential election of 2020 will be the 59th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. The individual who wins a majority of the presidential electoral vote will win election to a term lasting from January 20, 2021 to January 20, 2025. If no individual wins a majority of the electoral vote, then the United States House of Representatives will hold a contingent election to determine the winner. Each presidential elector is chosen by the states, and is charged with casting one vote for president and one vote for vice president. Most states award all their electoral votes to the individual who wins a majority or plurality of that state's popular vote, although two states award electors by congressional districts. The vice president is selected in a similar manner, though a contingent election will be held in the United States Senate if no individual receives a majority of the vice presidential electoral vote.
Incumbent Republican president Donald Trump has clinched the 2020 Republican after facing token opposition in the 2020 Republican primaries. Trump has stated that he will retain Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate for the 2020 election, although Trump could potentially choose another running mate. The Republican ticket will formally be nominated at the 2020 Republican National Convention, which will take place from August 24 to August 27.
The Democratic Party, the other major party in the United States, will formally nominate its ticket at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which will take place from August 17 to August 20. Former vice president Joe Biden became the party's presumptive nominee in early April, after Bernie Sanders withdrew from the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In addition to Biden and Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tulsi Gabbard all won at least one delegate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. The Biden campaign is currently conducting the selection and vetting process for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Various third parties and independent candidates are also seeking the presidency. The respective presidential candidates of two third parties, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, won at least one percent of the national popular vote in 2016. For the 2020 election, the Libertarian Party has nominated a ticket consisting of Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen, while the Green Party has nominated a ticket consisting of Howie Hawkins and Angela Nicole Walker. Other presidential candidates include Don Blankenship of the Constitution Party, Rocky De La Fuente of the Alliance Party, Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and rapper Kanye West, who is affiliated with the Birthday Party.

Congressional elections

Senate elections

ClassDemocraticIndependentRepublicanNext
elections
1212102024
2120212020
3120222022
Total45253

At least 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be up for election. All seats of Senate Class II will be up for election; the winners of those elections will serve six-year terms. Additionally, Arizona and Georgia will hold special elections to fill Class III Senate vacancies; the winners of those elections will serve two-year terms. Other states may also hold special elections if vacancies arise.
Republicans won control of the Senate in the 2014 Senate elections and retained that majority through the 2016 and 2018 Senate elections. Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats, while Democrats hold 45 seats, and independents hold two seats. Both independents have caucused with the Democratic Party since joining the Senate. Barring further vacancies or party switching, 21 Republican-held seats, along with 12 Democratic-held seats, will be up for election. If they win the vice presidency, Democrats will need to achieve a net gain of at least three seats to take the majority; otherwise, they will need to achieve a net gain of at least four seats to take the majority.

House of Representatives elections

All 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives will be up for election; 218 seats are necessary for a majority. Additionally, elections will be held to select all six non-voting delegates to the U.S. House of Representatives, who represent Washington, D.C. and the five U.S. territories with permanent inhabitants. The winners of each race will serve a two-year term, with the exception of the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, a non-voting position with a four-year term.
Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections, winning 235 seats compared to 199 seats for Republicans. Due to vacancies and party-switching that have occurred since the 2018 elections, Democrats currently hold 232 seats, compared to 198 seats held by Republicans and one seat, that of Justin Amash, held by the Libertarian Party. Depending on potential future vacancies and party switching, Republicans will need a net gain of approximately twenty seats to take control of the House of Representatives.
Special elections
Four special elections have been held in 2020 to replace a member who resigned or died in office during the 116th U.S. Congress:

Gubernatorial elections

Elections will be held for the governorships of 11 U.S. states and two U.S. territories. Special elections may be held for vacancies in the other states and territories, if required by respective state and territorial constitutions. Most elections will be for four-year terms, but the governors of New Hampshire and Vermont each serve two-year terms. Barring vacancies and party switching, Republicans will be defending seven seats, while Democrats will be defending six seats.

Legislative elections

Regularly-scheduled elections will be held in 86 of the 99 state legislative chambers in the United States; nationwide, regularly-scheduled elections will be held for 5,876 of the 7,383 legislative seats. Many legislative chambers will see all legislative seats up for election, but some legislative chambers that use staggered elections will hold elections for only a portion of the total seats in the chamber. Although most states will hold regularly-scheduled elections for both legislative chambers, Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia will not hold state legislative elections, and Michigan will hold elections only for the lower house. Nebraska, the only state that does not have a bicameral state legislature, will hold elections for half of the seats in its lone legislative chamber.
Following the 2019 elections, Democrats have 15 trifectas, Republicans have 20 trifectas, and 14 states have a divided government. Nebraska, which has an officially non-partisan legislature, is not included in this tally. Nationwide, Republicans control approximately 60 percent of the legislative chambers and 52 percent of the legislative seats.

Elections by state

In 2020, 82 state supreme court seats are up for election in 35 states. This constitutes 24 percent of all state supreme court seats in the country. Various other state courts will also hold elections in 2020.

Impact on redistricting

Following the 2020 United States Census, the state delegations to the U.S. House of Representatives will undergo reapportionment, and both the U.S. House of Representatives and the state legislatures will undergo redistricting. In states without redistricting commissions, the legislators and governors elected between 2017 and 2020 will draw the new congressional and state legislative districts that will take effect starting with the 2022 elections. State supreme courts can also have a significant effect on redistricting, as demonstrated in states such as Pennsylvania and Virginia. Thus the 2020 elections could have a significant impact on the 2020 United States redistricting cycle. Barring court orders or mid-decade redistricting, the districts drawn in the redistricting cycle will remain in place until the next round of redistricting begins in 2030.

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Since the beginning of 2020, various major cities have seen incumbent mayors re-elected, including Bakersfield, California ; Chesapeake, Fairfax City, Fredericksburg, and Hampton, Virginia ; Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; and Sacramento, California. In Norfolk, Virginia, Mayor Kenny Alexander was unopposed in seeking reelection. An open mayoral seat was won in Fresno, California by Jerry Dyer.
Mayoral elections remain to be held in many cities, including:
A number of Native American tribal governments held elections for tribal leadership in 2020. As with other elections in the country, the coronavirus pandemic disrupted many elections, delaying primaries and shifting some voting from in-person to postal.
The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation reelected President Bernadine Burnette; the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians reelected Tribal Chairman Aaron A. Payment; and incumbent Tribal Chief Donald Slyter was unopposed in seeking reelection to lead the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community elected Keith Anderson tribal chairman, replacing the retiring Charlie Vig.
Three Minnesota Chippewa Tribe bands had candidates win more than 50% of the votes in June primaries, eliminating the need for a general election: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe incumbent tribal chair Faron Jackson Sr., White Earth Nation incumbent chief executive Michael Fairbanks, and, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, challenger Bobby Deschampe, who defeated incumbent tribal chair Beth Drost.
Scheduled elections include:
Starting in March 2020, elections across the United States were delayed and disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic., at least 10 states and territories — Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island — had delayed presidential primaries. In addition, Alabama delayed the Republican primary Senatorial run-off and North Carolina and Mississippi delayed Republican primary run-off for congressional seats. Iowa, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas all delayed municipal elections, and in New York City the special election for Queens borough president was cancelled.
To help enforce social distancing, many states looked to expand absentee and vote-by-mail options for 2020 primary elections and the November general elections. Several elections, including Democratic primaries in Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the Maryland 7th congressional district special election, were conducted entirely with mail-in ballots only.
Beyond the disruption to traditional campaign events, the pandemic has the potential to disrupt the party conventions. On June 24, 2020, the Democratic National Committee announced that it planned to conduct all of its official business at the Democratic National Convention remotely. Delegates were concerned about the spread of COVID-19 if thousands of delegates attended in person in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Table of state, territorial, and federal results

This table shows the partisan results of president, congressional, gubernatorial, and state legislative races held in each state and territory in 2020. Note that not all states and territories hold gubernatorial, state legislative, and U.S. Senate elections in 2018. The five territories and Washington, D.C., do not elect members of the U.S. Senate, and the territories do not take part in presidential elections; instead they each elect one non-voting member of the House. Nebraska's unicameral legislature and the governorship and legislature of American Samoa are officially non-partisan. In the table, offices/legislatures that are not up for election in 2019 or 2020 are already filled in for the "after 2020 elections" section, although vacancies or party switching could potentially lead to a flip in partisan control.