Mass. upgraded from least competitive elections in the country to second-worst

October 19, 2026

By Chris Lisinski

For the first time since Barack Obama was president, Massachusetts did not land in dead last place in one assessment of electoral competitiveness.

It came in second to last.

Thanks to a slight uptick in the share of state legislative races with multiple choices for voters this election season, the Bay State climbed from the basement up one single rung higher in Ballotpedia’s biennial competition index.

The nonprofit online political encyclopedia examined all 46 states that have legislative races this fall. Massachusetts ranked 39th for the share of open seats (8 percent), 35th for the share of incumbents who faced primary challenges (14 percent), and 45th for the share of its 200 races where both a Democrat and Republican are on the general election ballot (23 percent). Averaging those three inputs, Ballotpedia awarded Massachusetts an overall “competitiveness index” of 15 on a 100-point scale, lower than every other state except Rhode Island.

All 160 seats in the Massachusetts House and all 40 seats in the Massachusetts Senate are up for reelection every two years. Three out of five of those races are completely uncontested this year, leaving most voters with no choice in their state lawmakers at the same time they will face a record-tying number of ballot questions.

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