2023 United States elections


Elections were held in the United States, in large part, on November 7, 2023. The off-year election included [2023 United States Governor (United States)|gubernatorial elections|gubernatorial] and state legislative elections in a few states, as well as numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local offices on the ballot. At least three special elections to the United States Congress were scheduled as either deaths or vacancies arose. The Democratic Party retained control of the governorship in Kentucky, flipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court and held a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, gained six seats in the New Jersey General Assembly, and won back unified control of the Virginia General Assembly, while Republicans also flipped the governorship in Louisiana and narrowly retained Mississippi's governorship. The election cycle also saw Ohio [November 2023 Ohio Issue 1|voting to enshrine Abortion-rights movements|abortion rights in the state constitution] and legalize cannabis for recreational use. The results were widely seen as a success for the Democratic Party.
The election cycle was generally marked by a trend of strong Democratic overperformances in special elections. Daily Kos and FiveThirtyEight analyses of at least [2023 United States State legislature (United States)|state legislative special elections|38 races] in September 2023 determined that the party outperformed the partisan lean by an average of 10 percent. In comparison, Democrats outperformed by an average of 4 percent in elections held between the 2018 and 2020 elections, and an average of 7.6 percent in elections held in 2020. The 2023 overperformances consisted of unusually larger margins of victory in races held in safely Democratic areas and unusually smaller margins of defeat in races held in safely Republican areas. The results indicate a suburban shift among affluent, college-educated voters that started as an underlying reaction to Donald Trump's election in 2016. While the results were generally in line with predictions, Democrats still outperformed expectations despite the low approval ratings of incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden and polls indicating his middling prospects in the 2024 presidential election.
Both Democratic and Republican operatives attributed the Democrats' overperformance streak to general support of broad abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. This marked a continuing trend of bipartisan voter support for ballot initiatives on abortion rights since the June 2022 decision. Many conservative political analysts and commentators called a continued Republican alliance with the anti-abortion movement "untenable" and an "electoral disaster", and urged the party to favor abortion rights. Young voters in particular gave overwhelming support for abortion rights. Among voters between 18 and 29 years old in increasingly Republican Ohio, an estimated 77% voted for Ohio Issue 1, including a majority of Republicans. Exit polling indicated Ohioans believed abortion should be "mostly legal" by a margin of 61–36%.

Federal elections

House of Representatives

Three special elections were held in 2023 to fill vacancies during the 118th U.S. Congress.

State elections

Gubernatorial elections

Three states held gubernatorial elections in 2023:

Lieutenant gubernatorial elections

Two states held lieutenant gubernatorial elections in 2023:

Attorney general elections

Three states held attorney general elections in 2023:

Secretary of state elections

Three states held secretary of state elections in 2023:
  • Kentucky: One-term Republican Michael Adams won re-election, defeating Democratic nominee Buddy Wheatley by a margin of 60.6% to 39.3%.
  • Louisiana: Republican Nancy Landry defeated Democrat Gwen Collins Greenup in a runoff election, succeeding two-term Republican Kyle Ardoin, who retired.
  • Mississippi: One-term Republican Michael Watson ran for re-election, defeating Democratic nominee Ty Pinkins by a margin of 60.1% to 39.9%.

State treasurer elections

Three states held state treasurer elections in 2023:
  • Kentucky: Republican Mark Metcalf defeated Democrat Micheal Bowman by a margin of 57.2% to 42.8%, succeeding two-term Republican Allison Ball who was term-limited and therefore ran for state auditor.
  • Louisiana: Republican John Fleming defeated Democrat Dustin Granger in a runoff to succeed incumbent two-term Republican John Schroder, who retired to run for governor.
  • Mississippi: One-term Republican David McRae ran for re-election, defeating Democrat Addie Green by a margin of 59% to 41%.

State agriculture commissioner elections

Three states held agriculture commissioner elections in 2023:
  • Kentucky: Republican Jonathan Shell defeated Democrat Sierra Enlow by a margin of 59.3% to 40.7%, succeeding two-term Republican Ryan Quarles, who was term-limited and ran for governor.
  • Louisiana: Four-term Republican Michael G. Strain won re-election unopposed.
  • Mississippi: Two-term Republican Andy Gipson won re-election, defeating Democrat Robert Bradford by a margin of 58.4% to 41.6%.

State supreme court elections

Two states, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, held state Supreme Court elections in 2023:

Legislative

Legislative elections were held for both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature, the Mississippi Legislature, the New Jersey Legislature, and the Virginia General Assembly. Kentucky, which holds gubernatorial elections in off-years, holds state legislative elections concurrent with presidential and midterm elections.
In addition, other states held special elections to fill open legislative seats vacated for various reasons.
The Democratic Party flipped control of Virginia's lower house, the House of Delegates, which it had lost two years earlier, and retained its majority in Virginia's upper house, the Senate. Democrats also expanded their majority in the lower house of the New Jersey legislature. The Republican Party strengthened its majorities in the Mississippi and Louisiana legislatures.

Referendums

Six states held a statewide referendum: Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Maine, and New York.
  • In a March special election, Oklahoma voters rejected State Question 820, a ballot initiative that would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana by people 21 and older.
  • In an April special election, Wisconsin voters approved three measures all by landslides: Question 1 and Question 2, expanding judges' criteria for setting cash bail; and Question 3, a non-binding question regarding welfare benefits.
  • In an August special election, Ohio voters, with more than 57% voting No, rejected a measure that would have required future amendments to the Ohio Constitution to be approved by 60% of the electorate in a referendum rather than a simple majority.
  • In November, the following referendums were on the ballot in their respective states.
  • * Maine voters rejected a ballot initiative to establish a public power company, but approved a constitutional amendment to require Article X, Sections 1, 2, and 5, to be included in all official printings of the state constitution. The three sections have not been included since 1876, but were never formally repealed. Sections 1 and 2 deal with the convening of the first Maine Legislature; Section 5 deals with the state's obligations to indigenous tribes, among other details of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts.
  • * New York voters approved two proposals on the ballot, Proposal One, concerning small city school districts, and Proposal Two, which concerns sewer systems.
  • * Ohio voters approved two measures, one that codified abortion rights in the state's constitution, and another, which legalized marijuana for recreational use. Both received more than 56% Yes votes, mirroring the August special election results.
  • * Texas voters statewide voted on 14 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. All except one passed. In addition, some Texas counties, cities, and school and other special districts had other ballot issues, such as bond proposals.

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Since the beginning of 2023, elections were held for the office of mayor, as well as several other municipal and county-level positions. Major U.S. cities saw incumbent mayors re-elected, including Montgomery, Alabama ; Tucson, Arizona ; Aurora, Colorado ; New Haven, Connecticut ; Orlando and Tampa, Florida ; Savannah, Georgia ; Boise, Idaho ; Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and South Bend, Indiana ; Springfield, Worcester, Massachusetts ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Lincoln, Nebraska ; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Columbus, Ohio ; Greenville, South Carolina ; Knoxville, Tennessee ; Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, Texas ; Salt Lake City, Utah ; Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin.
Open mayoral seats were won in Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado ; Hartford, Connecticut ; Jacksonville, Florida ; Carmel and [2023 2023 Evansville, Indiana, mayoral election|Evansville, Indiana, mayoral election|Evansville], Indiana ; Des Moines, Iowa ; Portland, Maine ; Manchester, New Hampshire ; Durham, North Carolina ; Akron, Ohio ; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee ; and Houston, Texas.
In Bridgeport, Connecticut, two-term incumbent Joe Ganim was declared the winner, although the race remains controversial amid lawsuits surrounding an absentee ballot scandal. In Chicago, Illinois, county commissioner Brandon Johnson defeated former superintendent Paul Vallas in a close election to succeed one-term mayor Lori Lightfoot, who lost re-election in the blanket primary. In Springfield, Illinois, two-term incumbent Jim Langfelder lost re-election to city treasurer Misty Buscher. In Gary, Indiana, state legislator Eddie Melton was elected to replace incumbent Jerome Prince, who lost renomination in the Democratic primary. In Wichita, Kansas, television news anchor Lily Wu defeated one-term incumbent Brandon Whipple in his bid for re-election; in Spokane, Washington, Nadine Woodward also lost re-election to a second term to former state senator Lisa Brown. Mableton, Georgia held its first mayoral election in 2023 after being reincorporated in November 2022. Warren, Michigan held its mayoral election in November 2023.

Seats that changed parties

Other local elections

This is a partial list of notable or major elections.

Tribal elections

Several Native American tribes held elections for tribal executive and other positions during 2023.
The Cherokee Nation held elections for [2023 Cherokee Nation 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election|principal chief election|principal chief], [2023 Cherokee Nation 2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election|deputy chief election|deputy chief], and eight of the seventeen Tribal Council seats on June 3. Principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and deputy chief Bryan Warner were re-elected. Five councilors were elected on June 3 and three were elected on July 8 after a runoff. Also on June 3, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma held elections for chairman and treasurer of the tribe. Jacob Keyes was narrowly elected chairman, beating challenger Alexandria Harjo by six votes, and Judy Barnes was elected treasurer. On June 8, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reelected Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben to a second term with 61.6% of the vote. Eight tribal council members were also reelected.
On July 8, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma held a general election for Tribal Council, reelecting four incumbents. Two other incumbent councilors, along with Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton, were unopposed in seeking reelection. Tehassiʔtasi Hill was reelected on July 15 to a third term as chair of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Vice Chairman Brandon Yellowbird–Stevens and Secretary Lisa Liggins were also reelected. Larry Barton was elected treasurer over the incumbent, Curtis Danforth. In a July 22 special election, Wena Supernaw was elected to succeed Joseph Tali Byrd who resigned as chairman of the Quapaw Nation in April 2023. In the Chickasaw Nation's July 25 election, Governor Bill Anoatubby and Lieutenant Governor Chris Anoatubby were unopposed in seeking reelection. Four tribal council members were also unopposed and thus reelected. A fifth tribal council seat was won by challenger Dusk Monetathchi in an August runoff.
In September, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians former principal chief Michell Hicks defeated incumbent chief Richard Sneed. Hicks previously served three terms as chief from 2003 to 2015. Incumbent vice chief Alan "B" Ensley was reelected. On September 16, Muscogee Nation voters reelected Principal Chief David Hill and Second Chief Del Beaver.
In October, the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe elected Amber Caldera as tribal chair in a special election following the death of the previous PGST chairman, Jeromy Sullivan. Also, the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska elected Nick Tutiakoff as tribal president, replacing Dennis Robinson who remained on the tribal council. Vicki Williams was elected vice president.

Referendums