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Politics

Solo election runs getting more routine

Where boundaries favor incumbents, m any state legislative races simply go uncontested .

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 28, 2006

At a time when the Democrats and Republicans are so evenly divided that control of many state legislatures hangs in the balance, this Election Day should be a long night of high anxiety. But the truth is, many candidates can turn in early.

Nationwide, more than 30 percent of the roughly 6,100 legislative seats on the ballot have already been decided, because the candidates are running unopposed.

In South Carolina, 73 percent of the candidates for state House and Senate have no opponent. In Arkansas, 70 percent. In Georgia, 68 percent. In North Carolina, half.

"At times, people recognize good leadership and they want to keep it," said state Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat who hasn't faced a Republican challenger in any of her three elections, including this year's. "If you want a choice, get out and try to recruit somebody ... for a candidate."

Forty-seven states in all have legislative contests this fall. In 11 states, more than half of the races for state House and Senate are uncontested.

The reasons are numerous. District boundaries drawn along partisan lines can make the races seem pointless to candidates from the minority party. Low pay for lawmakers in some states cannot make up for the time spent away from work and family.

In many Western states, representing a large district and traveling hundreds of miles to the state capital are too great a burden.

"It's very hard to spend the time down in Cheyenne," said Bill Luckett, a spokesman for the Wyoming Democratic Party.

It is not a new phenomenon, but one that has gotten slightly worse in recent years.

In 1992, about a quarter of the races for seats in the nation's state legislatures did not have candidates from both major parties, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Since 2000, the rate has been about a third.

According to an Associated Press analysis of ballots nationwide, there is only one candidate for office in 31 percent of this year's races.

Because ballots can change before Election Day - a candidate might withdraw, for example - the number of uncontested seats may change slightly before Nov. 7.

Perhaps the biggest reason, experts said, is a system in which legislators draw their own districts, which usually favor themselves and other incumbents.

In North Carolina, for example, there were 58 uncontested seats on Election Day 2000, the last held under districts drawn following the 1990 census.

That number grew to 68 in 2002, when a tentative map was used, and reached 88 in 2004, when the current boundaries were used for the first time.

"Ironically, as you get more bipartisan redistricting, you get more partisan seats," said Bruce Cain, a political science professor at the University of California at Berkeley and former redistricting consultant in California and Arizona.

Potential candidates often decide it isn't worth the financial hassle to run against an incumbent or in a district that favors one party over the other.

"The cost to play, it weeds out otherwise qualified candidates because either they don't have the means themselves, or they're not comfortable with raising the donations," said Bill Bozarth, executive director of Common Cause in Georgia, where 161 of the 236 legislative races are uncontested.

The phenomenon comes at a time when the stakes are high. Add up all of the seats in legislatures across the country and the Democrats hold the barest 21-seat advantage.

In 20 states, Republicans control both chambers, while Democrats hold both houses in 19 others. A change in just a few seats could shift control in a number of states.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, this is the first election since 1994 in which Democrats could surpass Republicans in the number of state capitals where one party has complete political control; that is, it holds both houses of the legislature and the governor's office.

Republicans hold the governorship and both legislative chambers in 12 states, while Democrats exercise full control in eight, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Polls show the Democrats have a good chance of breaking the GOP grip in the Indiana and Ohio legislatures, and in Arkansas and Massachusetts and Ohio by winning the governorship.

Republicans could cement full control in Michigan and Wisconsin by winning hotly contested races for governor there.

[Last modified October 28, 2006, 01:52:26]