Steady Leadership for State Education after 2020 Elections

While voters delivered a significant presidential change in the 2020 elections, they opted for steady state leadership. When former Vice President Joe Biden was elected to serve as the 46th president, it marked only the 10th time an incumbent’s reelection bid failed. Meanwhile, voters returned the vast majority of state candidates to office.

In the race for statewide office, voters in two states elected new governors to open seats, while nine states returned incumbents. Only one state elected a new chief state school officer. State houses broke records for the least amount of change in party control, with only two state houses shifting party control and one still to be decided. Sixty-one state board of education seats in 12 states and territories were on the ballot, with 32 open seats in the general election and only seven incumbents losing their reelection bid. No state board flipped in partisan control. In elections for national office, Democrats kept a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, albeit with a smaller margin, and pivotal races for the U.S. Senate majority are headed to a runoff. …