The 2019 United States elections were held, in large part, on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. This off-year election included gubernatorial elections in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi; regularly-scheduled state legislative elections in Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, and New Jersey; and special elections for seats in various state legislatures. Numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local elections also occurred. Three special elections to the United States House of Representatives also took place in 2019 as a result of vacancies.
Democrats regained the governorship of Kentucky and held the office in Louisiana, despite strong campaign efforts by President Donald Trump for the Republican candidates. Democrats also took control of the state legislature in Virginia. Republicans held the governor's mansion in Mississippi and expanded their control of the Louisiana state legislature and gained seats in the New Jersey state legislature. A major theme in the election results was a suburban revolt against Trump and the Republican Party in general, as these areas swung heavily towards Democratic candidates in local, state, and federal elections.
Federal special elections.
Three special elections were held in 2019 to fill vacancies during the 116th United States Congress:
Additional vacancies occurred in Wisconsin's 7th Congressional district following the resignation of Republican Sean Duffy in September 2019; New York's 27th Congressional district following the October 2019 resignation of Republican Chris Collins ahead of his pleading guilty to insider trading; California's 25th Congressional district following the resignation of Democrat Katie Hill in November 2019; and Maryland's 7th Congressional district following the death of Democrat Elijah Cummings on October 17, 2019. Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson announced in August 2019 that he would resign on December 31, 2019, due to deteriorating health. Special elections to fill the seats occurred in 2020.
Party switchers.
Also during 2019, changes in partisan balance in the House of Representatives happened as the result of members of Congress switching their party affiliation. On July 4, 2019, Rep. Justin Amash declared he would leave the Republican Party but continue to serve in Congress as an independent, turning an evenly split Michigan delegation into a Democratic majority delegation. Following a week of speculation, on December 19, the day after voting against the impeachment of Donald Trump, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey officially left the Democratic Party to become a Republican.
State elections.
Gubernatorial.
Three states held gubernatorial elections in 2019:
In addition, in Puerto Rico, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned as part of the territory's 2019 leadership crisis. He was eventually replaced by Wanda Vázquez Garced. Rosselló and Vázquez are both members of the New Progressive Party, but nationally Rosselló is affiliated with the Democratic Party while Vázquez is affiliated with the Republican Party.
Attorney General.
Regularly-scheduled elections were held in 3 of 43 states that elect attorneys general. The previous Attorney General elections for this group of states took place in 2015. One state attorney general ran for reelection and won, while Democrat Jim Hood of Mississippi and Andy Beshear of Kentucky did not run for re-election to run for Governor.
Republicans won every seat in this election, with a net gain of two.
Legislative.
Legislative elections were held for both houses of the Louisiana Legislature, the Mississippi Legislature, and the Virginia General Assembly, as well as the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Republicans expanded their control of the Mississippi Legislature, while Democrats kept control of the New Jersey General Assembly, despite Republicans picking up a handful of seats. Democrats gained majorities of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, giving them control of the legislature for the first time in 20 years. In Louisiana, Republicans expanded their control of the Louisiana Legislature, gaining a supermajority in the state Senate and falling two seats shy of a supermajority in the Louisiana House.
Special elections were also held during the year to fill state legislative seats vacated due to retirement, death, resignation, election to another office, or other reasons. During 2019, special elections were set or run for 77 vacated seats — 39 held by Democrats and 38 held by Republicans. Of the 74 special elections held by year-end, five seats flipped from Democratic to Republican, two flipped from Republican to Democratic, and one flipped from Republican to Independent. None of these changes impacted partisan control of the state legislature.
Judicial.
Three states held supreme court elections in 2019.
State trifectas and redistricting.
In the 2019 elections, Republicans successfully defended their trifecta (unified control of the governorship and the state legislature) in Mississippi, while Democrats defended their trifecta in New Jersey and prevented Republicans from gaining a trifecta in Louisiana. Republicans lost their trifecta in Kentucky, while Democrats gained a trifecta in Virginia. These state elections were to impact the redistricting that followed the 2020 United States census, as many states task governors and state legislators with drawing new boundaries for state legislative and congressional districts.
Ballot measures.
24 binding ballot measures were voted on in seven states.
Local elections.
Mayoral elections.
Although most mayorships and other local offices are non-partisan, when looking at party identification of the officeholders, registered Democrats gained three mayorships during 2019 (Phoenix, Arizona; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Wichita, Kansas) and Republicans picked up one (Aurora, Colorado). Following the November elections, registered Democrats had held 62 mayorships (+2) in the 100 largest cities in the United States, registered Republicans hold 29 (+1), and independents hold 4 (−3). The remaining five had been nonpartisan or were undetermined.
Re-elected incumbents.
Incumbent mayors won re-election in major cities during 2019, including Arlington, Texas (Jeff Williams); Cary, North Carolina (Harold Weinbrecht); Charlotte, North Carolina (Vi Lyles); Charleston, South Carolina (John Tecklenburg); Colorado Springs, Colorado (John Suthers); Denver (Michael Hancock); Duluth, Minnesota (Emily Larson); Durham, North Carolina (Steve Schewel); Evansville, Indiana (Lloyd Winnecke); Fairbanks, Alaska (Jim Matherly); Fort Collins, Colorado (Wade Troxell); Fort Wayne, Indiana (Tom Henry); Fort Worth, Texas (Betsy Price); Gainesville, Florida (Lauren Poe); Grand Rapids, Michigan (Rosalynn Bliss); Hartford, Connecticut (Luke Bronin); Houston (Sylvester Turner); Indianapolis, Indiana (Joe Hogsett); Jacksonville, Florida (Lenny Curry); Las Vegas, Nevada (Carolyn Goodman); Manchester, New Hampshire (Joyce Craig); Memphis, Tennessee (Jim Strickland); Orlando, Florida (Buddy Dyer); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Jim Kenney); Rapid City, South Dakota (Steve Allender); San Antonio, Texas (Ron Nirenberg); and Springfield, Massachusetts (Domenic Sarno) and Worcester, Massachusetts (Joseph Petty).
San Francisco, California incumbent mayor London Breed, who won a special election to become mayor following the death of mayor Ed Lee, was elected to her first full term. After the Yonkers, New York, City Council extended mayoral term limits from two terms to three in late 2018, incumbent Mike Spano went on to win a third term.
Incumbents Andrew Ginther in Columbus, Ohio, Dan Gelber in Miami Beach, Florida, and Ken McClure in Springfield, Missouri were unopposed in seeking re-election.
Notable milestones.
In Alabama, which was the location of many pivotal moments in the American civil rights movement, several cities elected their first African American mayor in 2019. In the capital city of Montgomery, Probate Judge Steven Reed was elected mayor in a run-off, and in Talladega Timothy Ragland defeated incumbent mayor Jerry Cooper in a run-off. Also, voters in Eastpointe, Michigan, elected council member Monique Owens mayor, making her the city's first African American mayor.
Two large cities elected their first out LGBT+ mayors in 2019. In Chicago, Lori Lightfoot was elected as the city's first female African American mayor and first lesbian mayor in what was only the second-ever mayoral runoff election in the city's history. In Tampa, Florida, Jane Castor also won a run-off election to become the first gay woman to lead a major Florida city.
In Tucson, Arizona, Democrat Regina Romero was elected the city's first female and first Latina mayor. In Boise, Idaho, City Council President Lauren McLean defeated incumbent Dave Bieter to become the first woman elected as mayor in the city and winner of the city's first-ever mayoral run-off election. Similarly, in Belton, South Carolina, Tiffany Ownbey defeated incumbent Wendell Page, making her the first woman to be elected mayor of the city. In Salt Lake City, Utah, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall became the city's third female mayor after defeating state senator Luz Escamilla; it was the first time two women had faced each other in a mayoral runoff in the city.
City councilman Dr. An Minh Truong won an open seat for mayor of Haltom City, Texas, making him the first Vietnamese-American mayor in Tarrant County and possibly the first in Texas.
Incumbents defeated for re-election.
In Flint, Michigan, state representative Sheldon Neeley defeated incumbent Karen Weaver, who was seeking a second term. In Madison, Wisconsin, Satya Rhodes-Conway defeated longtime incumbent mayor Paul Soglin, and in Nashville, Tennessee, city councilman John Cooper defeated incumbent David Briley. In Portland, Maine, former school board chair Kate Snyder unseated incumbent Ethan Strimling, and in Wichita, Kansas, state Rep. Brandon Whipple defeated incumbent Jeff Longwell. In Brownsville, Texas, Trey Mendez won a run-off election to replace incumbent mayor Tony Martinez, who came in third in the primary election.
Open mayoral seats.
Open mayoral seats were won in Aurora, Colorado (Mike Coffman); Dallas, Texas (Eric Johnson); Green Bay, Wisconsin (Eric Genrich); Kansas City, Missouri (Quinton Lucas); Knoxville, Tennessee (Indya Kincannon); Lafayette, Louisiana (Josh Guillory); Lincoln, Nebraska (Leirion Gaylor Baird); Newark, Delaware (Jerry Clifton); Raleigh, North Carolina (Mary-Ann Baldwin); and West Palm Beach, Florida (Keith James). In South Bend, Indiana, Democrat James Mueller defeated Republican Sean Haas to replace incumbent Pete Buttigieg, who declined to run for a third term in favor of a presidential campaign. In Garland, Texas, Scott LeMay was unopposed in seeking an open mayoral seat.
Recall elections.
Nationwide, 90 city council members and 45 mayors or vice-mayors were subject to recall efforts, along with 44 school board members and 51 other city, county, or state officials. In total, 87 of these efforts made it to the ballot and slightly more than half were successful in recalling the official; an additional 16 officials resigned before a recall election could be held. Mayors were successfully recalled in Wickenburg, Arizona; Brighton, Colorado; Bovill and
Dalton Gardens, Idaho; Albion, Michigan; York, Nebraska; Metolius, Oregon; and Rio Bravo, Texas. Mayors in Elk River, Kooskia, and Sugar City, Idaho, and in Arnegard and Tower City, North Dakota, were retained in office. In Huntington, Oregon, voters recalled Mayor Richard Cummings who'd survived a 2018 recall attempt when he served on the city council.
In Fall River, Massachusetts, voters successfully recalled Mayor Jasiel Correia and re-elected him in the same election. Correia faced recall after being charged with wire fraud and filing false tax returns in 2018. Five candidates, including Correia, qualified to run in the event of a successful recall, and a plurality of voters voted for Correia. In September, Correia was charged with extorting cannabis dispensaries looking to do business in the city; the city council vote to remove him from office, but Correia rejected their authority to do so. Correia stood for re-election to a third term, coming in second during the September 17 preliminary election. On October 15, 2019, Correia suspended his campaign, and, ultimately, came in third, behind write-in votes with school board member Paul Coogan winning the election.
Tribal elections.
Several notable Native American tribal governments held elections for tribal leadership in 2019.
Incumbents Tribal Chairman Don Gentry of the Klamath Tribes and Tribal Council Chief Beverly Kiohawiton Cook of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe were both re-elected to a third term. Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Council Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. was re-elected to a second term. Larry Romanelli was elected to a fourth term as Ogema of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Catawba Nation Chair Bill Harris, Comanche Nation Tribal Chairman William Nelson Sr., Fort Peck Tribes Chairman Floyd Azure, Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Shannon Wheeler, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Chair Richard Peterson, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Tribal Chairperson Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, and Yankton Sioux Tribe Tribal Chairman Robert Flying Hawk were also all re-elected. Richard Sneed won re-election to his first full-term as principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Sneed had been elevated to principal chief in 2017 following the impeachment of then Principal Chief Patrick Lambert. Mescalero Apache Tribe Tribal President Robert "Gabe" Aguilar, who was elevated to president when Tribal President Arthur "Butch" Blaze resigned for health reasons in October, was also re-elected to his first full term.
Choctaw Nation incumbent Chief Gary Batton was unopposed in seeking a second term, and Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby was unopposed in seeking a ninth consecutive four-year term.