A Brief History of US Senate Elections without Democrats on the Ballot
Democrats have already tied a party record without nominees in three states this cycle
Heading into the final weeks of primary season, voters in at least three states will not see the name of a Democrat on the ballot in their U.S. Senate contest.
On Tuesday, South Dakota Democrat Julian Beaudion backtracked on recent statements to become the latest Democratic nominee in a deep red state to exit the race in deference to party pressure and consolidate support behind independent candidate Brian Bengs to take on incumbent Mike Rounds.
Last week, Idaho realtor and Democratic primary winner David Roth withdrew so the party could coalesce around independent candidate (and former Democratic state legislator) Todd Achilles.
Achilles will face three-term (and 83 year-old) GOP incumbent Jim Risch in a state that has elected Republicans to the office for 16 consecutive direct elections since 1978. That is the fourth largest current GOP winning streak (behind Kansas at 33, Wyoming at 19, and Utah at 18) and tied for the fifth largest in party history with Maine. [Vermont ranks #2 all-time at 25 straight wins from 1914 to 1972].
Idaho’s news came on the heels of Nebraska, where Democrat Cindy Burbank followed up on her pre-primary pledge that she would drop out of the race for anti-Pete Ricketts voters to unify behind the campaign of independent and 2024 candidate Dan Osborn.
The clock is still ticking for Democratic nominee Alani Bankhead of Montana to cave to the pressure and pave the way for establishment-backed (and better funded) independent candidate Seth Bodnar in his open seat race against Republican Kurt Alme.
At least one major party has failed (strategically or otherwise) to land a candidate on the general election ballot for each of the last 14 cycles since 2000.
During this quarter-century span, Democrats have not appeared on the U.S. Senate ballot in 20 elections, compared to just four times for the GOP.
By contrast, from 1914 through 1998, there were 115 U.S. Senate elections without a Republican on the ballot (overwhelmingly in the South), compared to just 17 without a Democrat.
As was reported by Smart Politics last year, Nebraska is now the first state without a Democrat on the ballot in a U.S. Senate contest in back-to-back cycles.
In Idaho, Democrats also failed to produce a nominee in 2004 when Senator Mike Crapo won over 99 percent of the vote (with a write-in candidacy by Democrat Scott McClure garnering 0.8 percent).
Meanwhile, South Dakota Democrats will also now head into the general election without a U.S. Senate nominee for the second time – previously doing so in 2010 when John Thune ran unopposed for a second term in the chamber.
Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota are three of 20 states in which Democrats do not have a perfect track record in putting a candidate’s name before the voters on Election Day since 1914.
Vermont leads the way with effectively no Democrat on the ballot in five elections. In 1968, GOP U.S. Senator George Aiken won the contested Republican primary and, with no Democrat running for that party’s nomination, also claimed the Democratic nod by receiving 1,534 write-in votes.
Democrats were in a slightly different position in four other election cycles won by independent Bernie Sanders. Sanders won the Democratic primaries of 2006, 2012, 2018, and 2024 but declined the nomination and then ran as an independent in each of the general elections.
The only other states that have hosted more than two elections without Democratic options for voters are California and Minnesota.
In California:
- 1934: Incumbent Senator Hiram Johnson cross-filed to win both the GOP and Democratic primaries and then ran as a Republican in the general election with only a Socialist nominee on the ballot as opposition
- 1940: Johnson used the same maneuver to win the GOP, Democratic, and Progressive primaries six years later and then only faced Prohibition and Communist nominees in the general
- 1946 (special): After Johnson’s death, appointed Republican U.S. Senator William Knowland won the general election as well as the special for the remaining two months of the term – but no candidates from any party appeared on the ballot of the latter (only write-in votes were cast)
- 1952: Knowland cross-filed to win the GOP and Democratic nominations and ran as a Republican to win the general against only the Progressive Party nominee
In Minnesota:
- 1918: Long-serving U.S. Senator Knute Nelson won the GOP primary and was endorsed by the state Democratic Party. [A splinter faction of the Democrats later attempted to land a candidate on the ballot (Minneapolis real estate dealer Alfred Davis) but failed. Nelson faced only National (Prohibitionist) Party nominee Willis Calderwood in the general].
- 1928: Democratic nominee George Cashman withdrew from the race in late September under pressure from the state party as Democrats and Farmer-Laborites attempted to unify forces to elect Farmer-Laborite Henrik Shipstead for U.S. Senate (successfully) and see New York Governor Al Smith carry the state for president (unsuccessfully)
- 1936: Democratic primary winner Patrick Delaney withdrew from the race in early October to coalesce support behind Farmer-Laborite Ernest Lundeen (who had replaced the recently deceased Farmer-Laborite primary winner, Governor Floyd Olson)
- 1936 (special): No Democrat filed for the short-term election to serve the remaining two months of Republican Thomas Schall’s term. Schall died in December 1935 and Farmer-Laborite Elmer Benson was appointed to the seat.
The remaining 14 states which have lacked a Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in one or two contests are Alabama (2014), Alaska (2020), Arizona (2000), Arkansas (2020), Indiana (2006), Iowa (1926), Kansas (2002, 2014), Mississippi (1990, 2002), North Dakota (1926 special), Oregon (1918 special), Pennsylvania (1922 special), Utah (2022), Virginia (1990, 2002), and Wisconsin (1925 special, 1928).
If Bankhead withdraws in Montana by early next week, Democrats will set a party record of not fielding a candidate on the ballot in four states.
The party failed to run U.S. Senate nominees in three states during the 2002 cycle: Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia. Democrats were without nominees in two states in nine previous cycles: 1918, 1926, 1928, 1936, 1990, 2006, 2014, 2020, and 2024.
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– Brian Bengs was also the Democratic nominee for the Senate in 2022 though, unlike Lisa Murkowski of AK and Joseph Lieberman of CT, he never actually served as a major party senator while seeking re-election as a quasi-independent candidate.
– NM almost became a state without a *Republican on the ballot* but a successful write-in bid by a nondescript gas-and-oil operator saved the state party from a fate common in most of the South before the 1950s – and CA in 2016 and 2018.
– Aside from the active streak begun in 1978, the ID seat contested this cycle has been won only once by the Democrats – in 1948, concurrent with the presidential win at the top of the statewide ticket.
– I am not at all certain that the *entire* (Democratic) establishment is behind the independent candidate, if only because the party has a longstanding tradition of electing long-serving prominent senators such as Max Baucus and Mike Mansfield.