The 2021 United States elections were held in large part on Tuesday, November 2, 2021. This off-year election included the regular gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. In addition, state legislative elections were held for the New Jersey Legislature and Virginia House of Delegates (the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly), along with numerous state legislative special elections, citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local elections. Six special elections to the United States House of Representatives also took place on November 2 or earlier as a result of either deaths or vacancies. The first of these was held on March 20.
Republican candidates made significant gains up and down the ballot. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee in the Virginia gubernatorial election, prevailed against Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe in an upset. Youngkin promised to ban the teaching of critical race theory within public schools on day one of his administration, push back against certain COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, and advocate for a low tax and small government agenda within the state of Virginia. Within the factions in the Democratic Party, moderate nominees generally prevailed against left-wing candidates, and progressive policies by and large saw rejection; a proposal to defund and replace the Minneapolis Police Department was defeated. The 2021 election results were largely speculated as a prelude to an incoming red wave in the 2022 midterms, but large Republican gains ultimately failed to manifest in that election.
The results were interpreted by some political commentators as a backlash against the policies of the Biden administration, or cultural liberalism and wokeism within the party. Others saw Democrats' perceived failure to enact their legislative agenda in the United States Congress as the main impetus behind Republican victories, interpreting Democratic losses as public frustration at the Biden administration not following through on its promises to implement transformative policy.
Federal elections.
Senate.
As part of the 2020 United States Senate elections, Georgia held run-off elections for both of its Senate seats on January 5, 2021. The run-off elections were triggered because of a Georgia law requiring a second round when no individual wins a majority of the vote in most federal, state, and local elections. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were the victors in those special elections, which gave the Democrats a total of 48 seats to the Republicans' 50. However, the victories resulted in a shift of power to the Democrats; the other two senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, are both independents who belong to the Democrats' caucus, and since any tied vote is broken by the President of the Senate—in this case Vice President Kamala Harris, also a Democrat—the Democrats technically hold a one-seat majority.
House of Representatives.
Six special elections were held throughout 2021 to fill vacancies during the 117th U.S. Congress.
Puerto Rican shadow delegation.
In May, Puerto Rico held a shadow congressional delegation election to elect two senators and four representatives to replace the shadow delegation first appointed in 2017. The shadow senators and representatives are not seated in Congress, but are charged with advancing Puerto Rico's statehood efforts. In the preliminary results from election night, former at-large senator Melinda Romero and lawyer Zoraida Buxo earned the most votes for senator, and conservative commentator Elizabeth Torres, municipal lawmaker Roberto Lefranc Fortuño, former Ponce Mayor María Meléndez, and Juventud PNP director Adriel Vélez earned the most votes for the House delegation. However, former governor Ricardo Rosselló earned enough write-in votes to gain a seat in the House delegation over Vélez. Voter turnout was at a record low level — 3.92% — in the election.
State elections.
Gubernatorial.
Two states held regularly scheduled gubernatorial elections in 2021, and one more state held a recall election:
Lieutenant gubernatorial.
One state held a lieutenant gubernatorial election in 2021:
Attorney general.
One state held an attorney general election in 2021:
Legislative.
Legislative elections were held for both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. Democrats maintained majority control of the New Jersey Senate and the General Assembly. Republicans regained control of the Virginia House of Delegates, which had been held by Democrats since 2019.
Local elections.
Mayoral elections.
Since the beginning of 2021, various major cities have seen incumbent mayors re-elected, including Birmingham (Randall Woodfin) and Mobile, Alabama (Sandy Stimpson); Miami (Francis Suarez) and North Miami, Florida (Philippe Bien-Aime); New Orleans, Louisiana (LaToya Cantrell); Detroit (Mike Duggan) and Lansing, Michigan (Andy Schor); Minneapolis (Jacob Frey) and St. Paul, Minnesota (Melvin Carter); Jackson, Mississippi (Chokwe Antar Lumumba); Springfield, Missouri (Ken McClure); Omaha, Nebraska (Jean Stothert); Manchester, New Hampshire (Joyce Craig); Jersey City, New Jersey (Steven Fulop); Albuquerque, New Mexico (Tim Keller); Buffalo (Byron Brown) and Syracuse, New York (Ben Walsh); Toledo, Ohio (Wade Kapszukiewicz); Lancaster, Pennsylvania (Danene Sorace); San Antonio, Texas (Ron Nirenberg); Burlington, Vermont (Miro Weinberger); and Alexandria, Virginia (Justin Wilson).
Open mayoral seats were won in Anchorage, Alaska (Dave Bronson); St. Petersburg, Florida (Ken Welch); Atlanta, Georgia (Andre Dickens); St. Louis, Missouri (Tishaura Jones); New York City (Eric Adams); Durham, North Carolina (Elaine O'Neal); Cincinnati (Aftab Pureval) and Cleveland, Ohio (Justin Bibb); Chattanooga, Tennessee (Tim Kelly); Arlington (Jim Ross), Fort Worth (Mattie Parker) and Plano, Texas (John Muns); and Seattle, Washington (Bruce Harrell).
In Kansas City, Kansas, former KCKPD deputy chief Tyrone Garner narrowly defeated incumbent David Alvey in a runoff election. In Boston, Massachusetts, city councilwoman Michelle Wu was elected to succeed acting mayor Kim Janey, who came in fourth in the blanket primary. Janey was appointed to replace Marty Walsh, who resigned on March 22, 2021, to become the United States Secretary of Labor. In Rochester, New York, city councilman Malik Evans ran unopposed after defeating incumbent two-term Lovely Warren in the primary election. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, businessman Matthew Tuerk was elected to replace incumbent Ray O'Connell, who lost renomination in the Democratic primary. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, two-term incumbent Eric Papenfuse ran a write-in campaign after losing nomination to city council president Wanda Williams, who ultimately won the general election. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, state representative Ed Gainey was elected to replace two-term incumbent Bill Peduto, who lost renomination in the Democratic primary. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Republican Tiffany O'Donnell was elected after incumbent Republican Brad Hart failed to advance to the runoff.
Tribal elections.
Several notable Native American tribes held elections in 2021 for tribal executives, including the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and the Nisqually Indian Tribe. Tim Nuvangyaoma was reelected as chairman of the Hopi Tribe.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina elected John Lowery as chairman. In the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's elections, Vice President Scott Herman unseated Tribal President Rodney M. Bordeaux. Edward Peter-Paul won reelection as tribal chief of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Maine.
In July 2021, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe voters elected Ronald LaFrance Jr. chief in a special election, ousting incumbent chief Eric Thompson. Thompson had narrowly beaten LaFrance, who ran as a write-in candidate in the regular June election, but appeals called that election into question, resulting in the special election.
The Cherokee Nation held elections to its Tribal Council on June 5.
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 2021. Note that not all states and territories hold gubernatorial, state legislative, and Senate elections in 2021. The five territories and Washington, D. C., do not elect members of the 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 elected on a non-partisan basis, and, therefore, political party affiliation is not listed.
References.
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