One hundred twenty people declared candidacies for federal or statewide offices in the past week. All of these candidates declared before their state’s official filing deadline.
A political candidate is a person who is running for elected office.
Official candidates are people who:
- Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
- Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
“Fifty-three of those candidates were Democratic, while 63 were Republican. Four are minor-party candidates,” said Ballotpedia.
Ninety-eight candidates are running for Congress and 22 for state legislatures.
Since the beginning of the year, Zenger News has identified 2,557 declared candidates for federal and statewide offices. At this time in 2021, Zenger News had identified 3,283 declared candidates for 2022, 2023, and 2024 races.
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 sub-national entities of the United States.
Additionally, there are five U.S. territories—American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and Washington, D.C.
“States can organize their state governments any way they like, as long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution that they have “a Republican Form of Government.” In practice, each state has adopted a three-branch system of government generally along the sames lines as that of the federal government. Nebraska, for example, has a unicameral legislature,” said Ballotpedia.
An official candidate is someone who registers with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline or appears on candidate lists released by government election agencies. A declared candidate is someone who has not completed the steps to become an official candidate but who might have done one or more of the following:
- Appeared in candidate forums or debates
- Published a campaign website
- Published campaign social media pages
- Advertised online, on television, or through print
- Issued press releases
- Interviewed with media publications
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the United States of America’s federal government. It consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, with members chosen through direct election.
Produced in association with Ballotpedia
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
