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The 2023 United States elections were held, in large part, on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The off-year election included gubernatorial and state legislative elections in a few states, as well as numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local offices on the ballot. At least three special elections to the United States Congress were scheduled as either deaths or vacancies arose. The Democratic Party retained control of the governorship in Kentucky, flipped the Wisconsin Supreme Court and held a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, gained six seats in the New Jersey General Assembly, and won back unified control of the Virginia General Assembly, while Republicans also flipped the governorship in Louisiana and narrowly retained Mississippi's governorship. The election cycle also saw Ohio voting to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and legalize cannabis for recreational use. The results were widely seen as a success for the Democratic Party.
| ← 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 → Off-year elections | |
| Election day | November 7 (October 14 in Louisiana) |
|---|---|
| House elections | |
| Seats contested | 3 mid-term vacancies |
| Net seat change | 0 |
| |
| Democratic hold Republican hold No election | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 3 |
| Net seat change | Republican +1 |
 | |
| Republican gain Democratic hold Republican hold No election | |
The election cycle was generally marked by a trend of strong Democratic overperformances in special elections. Daily Kos and FiveThirtyEight analyses of at least 38 races in September 2023[a] determined that the party outperformed the partisan lean by an average of 10 percent. In comparison, Democrats outperformed by an average of 4 percent in elections held between the 2018 and 2020 elections, and an average of 7.6 percent in elections held in 2020. The 2023 overperformances consisted of unusually larger margins of victory in races held in safely Democratic areas and unusually smaller margins of defeat in races held in safely Republican areas.[1][2] The results indicate a suburban shift among affluent, college-educated voters that started as an underlying reaction to Donald Trump's election in 2016.[3] While the results were generally in line with predictions, Democrats still outperformed expectations despite the low approval ratings of incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden and polls indicating his middling prospects in the 2024 presidential election.[4]
Both Democratic and Republican operatives attributed the Democrats' overperformance streak to general support of broad abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. This marked a continuing trend of bipartisan voter support for ballot initiatives on abortion rights since the June 2022 decision.[5][6] Many conservative political analysts and commentators called a continued Republican alliance with the anti-abortion movement "untenable" and an "electoral disaster", and urged the party to favor abortion rights.[7] Young voters in particular gave overwhelming support for abortion rights. Among voters between 18 and 29 years old in increasingly Republican Ohio, an estimated 77% voted for Ohio Issue 1, including a majority of Republicans.[8] Exit polling indicated Ohioans believed abortion should be "mostly legal" by a margin of 61–36%.[9]
Three special elections were held in 2023 to fill vacancies during the 118th U.S. Congress.
Three states held gubernatorial elections in 2023:
Three states held attorney general elections in 2023:
Three states held secretary of state elections in 2023:
Three states held state treasurer elections in 2023:
Three states held agriculture commissioner elections in 2023:
Two states, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, held state Supreme Court elections in 2023:
Legislative elections were held for both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature, the Mississippi Legislature, the New Jersey Legislature, and the Virginia General Assembly. Kentucky, which holds gubernatorial elections in off-years, holds state legislative elections concurrent with presidential and midterm elections.
In addition, other states held special elections to fill open legislative seats vacated for various reasons (death, retirement, resignation for personal reasons, expulsion, or election to a higher office).
The Democratic Party flipped control of Virginia's lower house, the House of Delegates,[43] which it had lost two years earlier, and retained its majority in Virginia's upper house, the Senate.[44] Democrats also expanded their majority in the lower house of the New Jersey legislature.[45][46] The Republican Party strengthened its majorities in the Mississippi and Louisiana legislatures.[47]
Six states held a statewide referendum: Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Maine, and New York.
Since the beginning of 2023, elections were held for the office of mayor, as well as several other municipal and county-level positions. Major U.S. cities saw incumbent mayors re-elected, including Montgomery, Alabama (Steven Reed);[60] Tucson, Arizona (Regina Romero);[61] Aurora, Colorado (Mike Coffman);[62] New Haven, Connecticut (Justin Elicker);[63] Orlando (Buddy Dyer)[64] and Tampa, Florida (Jane Castor);[65] Savannah, Georgia (Van R. Johnson);[66] Boise, Idaho (Lauren McLean);[67] Fort Wayne (Tom Henry),[68] Indianapolis (Joe Hogsett),[69] and South Bend, Indiana (James Mueller);[70] Springfield (Domenic Sarno),[71] Worcester, Massachusetts (Joseph Petty);[72] Kansas City, Missouri (Quinton Lucas);[73] Lincoln, Nebraska (Leirion Gaylor Baird);[74] Charlotte, North Carolina (Vi Lyles);[75] Columbus, Ohio (Andrew Ginther);[76] Greenville, South Carolina (Knox H. White);[77] Knoxville, Tennessee (Indya Kincannon);[78] Arlington (Jim Ross),[79] Dallas (Eric Johnson),[80] Fort Worth (Mattie Parker),[81] and San Antonio, Texas (Ron Nirenberg);[82] Salt Lake City, Utah (Erin Mendenhall);[83] Green Bay (Eric Genrich) and Madison, Wisconsin (Satya Rhodes-Conway).[84]
Open mayoral seats were won in Colorado Springs (Yemi Mobolade)[85] and Denver, Colorado (Mike Johnston);[86] Hartford, Connecticut (Arunan Arulampalam);[87] Jacksonville, Florida (Donna Deegan);[88][89] Carmel (Sue Finkam)[90] and Evansville, Indiana (Stephanie Terry);[91] Des Moines, Iowa (Connie Boesen);[92] Portland, Maine (Mark Dion);[93] Manchester, New Hampshire (Jay Ruais);[94] Durham, North Carolina (Leonardo Williams);[95] Akron, Ohio (Shammas Malik);[96] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Cherelle Parker);[97][98] Memphis (Paul Young)[99] and Nashville, Tennessee (Freddie O'Connell);[100] and Houston, Texas (John Whitmire).[101]
In Bridgeport, Connecticut, two-term incumbent Joe Ganim was declared the winner, although the race remains controversial amid lawsuits surrounding an absentee ballot scandal.[102][103] In Chicago, Illinois, county commissioner Brandon Johnson defeated former superintendent Paul Vallas in a close election to succeed one-term mayor Lori Lightfoot, who lost re-election in the blanket primary.[104] In Springfield, Illinois, two-term incumbent Jim Langfelder lost re-election to city treasurer Misty Buscher.[105] In Gary, Indiana, state legislator Eddie Melton was elected to replace incumbent Jerome Prince, who lost renomination in the Democratic primary.[106] In Wichita, Kansas, television news anchor Lily Wu defeated one-term incumbent Brandon Whipple in his bid for re-election;[107] in Spokane, Washington, Nadine Woodward also lost re-election to a second term to former state senator Lisa Brown.[108] Mableton, Georgia held its first mayoral election in 2023 after being reincorporated in November 2022.[109]
This is a partial list of notable or major elections.
Several Native American tribes held elections for tribal executive and other positions during 2023.[123]
The Cherokee Nation held elections for principal chief, deputy chief, and eight of the seventeen Tribal Council seats on June 3.[124] Principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and deputy chief Bryan Warner were re-elected.[125][126] Five councilors were elected on June 3 and three were elected on July 8 after a runoff.[127][128] Also on June 3, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma held elections for chairman and treasurer of the tribe.[129] Jacob Keyes was narrowly elected chairman, beating challenger Alexandria Harjo by six votes,[130] and Judy Barnes was elected treasurer.[131] On June 8, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reelected Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben to a second term with 61.6% of the vote.[132] Eight tribal council members were also reelected.[133]
On July 8, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma held a general election for Tribal Council, reelecting four incumbents. Two other incumbent councilors, along with Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton, were unopposed in seeking reelection.[134] Tehassiʔtasi Hill was reelected on July 15 to a third term as chair of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Vice Chairman Brandon Yellowbird–Stevens and Secretary Lisa Liggins were also reelected. Larry Barton was elected treasurer over the incumbent, Curtis Danforth.[135] In a July 22 special election, Wena Supernaw was elected to succeed Joseph Tali Byrd who resigned as chairman of the Quapaw Nation in April 2023.[136][137] In the Chickasaw Nation's July 25 election, Governor Bill Anoatubby and Lieutenant Governor Chris Anoatubby were unopposed in seeking reelection. Four tribal council members were also unopposed and thus reelected.[138] A fifth tribal council seat was won by challenger Dusk Monetathchi in an August runoff.[139]
In September, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians former principal chief Michell Hicks defeated incumbent chief Richard Sneed. Hicks previously served three terms as chief from 2003 to 2015. Incumbent vice chief Alan "B" Ensley was reelected.[140] On September 16, Muscogee Nation voters reelected Principal Chief David Hill and Second Chief Del Beaver.[141]
In October, the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe elected Amber Caldera as tribal chair in a special election following the death of the previous PGST chairman, Jeromy Sullivan.[142] Also, the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska elected Nick Tutiakoff as tribal president, replacing Dennis Robinson who remained on the tribal council. Vicki Williams was elected vice president.[143]
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