As some of their colleagues sweat out today's balloting, an unusually large number of House incumbents-57 Republicans and 40 Democrats, or about 20 percent of the House-have nothing to worry about: They face no major party opposition this year, and are all but guaranteed of being sworn in when the 106th Congress convenes in January.
And the list of those candidates with no major party opposition may understate the overall lack of competitiveness in this year's congressional elections: According to a report published last week by the Center for Responsive Politics, 143 candidates-representing about a third of the 435- member House-went into the final week of the campaign financially unopposed, the highest number in at least a decade. The CRP found that only 66 races-about 15 percent-are financially competitive. In these cases, the spending advantage ratio is less than 2-1.
Below is a list of the incumbents who face no major party ballot opposition, as compiled by CongressDaily. A single asterisk (*) denotes the incumbent faces minor party opposition; a double asterisk (**) denotes that a major party opponent appears on the ballot, but has withdrawn from the race:
Alabama
Democrats: Rep. Earl Hilliard
Republicans: Rep. Sonny Callahan
Arkansas
Democrats: Rep. Marion Berry
Republicans: Rep. Asa Hutchinson*
California
Democrats: Reps. Gary Condit*, Howard Berman*, Maxine Waters* and Bob Filner*
Republicans: Reps. George Radanovich*, Bill Thomas*, Howard (Buck) McKeon*, Mary Bono**, Ron Packard* and Duncan Hunter*
Florida
Democrats: Reps. Allen Boyd*, Karen Thurman*, Carrie Meek, Robert Wexler, Peter Deutsch and Alcee Hastings
Republicans: Reps. Joe Scarborough*, Tillie Fowler, Cliff Stearns, John Mica, Michael Bilirakis, C.W. (Bill) Young, Charles Canady, Dan Miller, Porter Goss, Mark Foley, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Clay Shaw
Georgia
Republicans: Reps. Jack Kingston, Michael (Mac) Collins and Nathan Deal.
Illinois
Democrats: Rep. Danny Davis*
Republicans: Reps. John Edward Porter, Donald Manzullo and Ray LaHood
Iowa
Republicans: Rep. Tom Latham
Louisiana
Democrats: Reps. William Jefferson and Christopher John (Jefferson has two primary opponents; a runoff will be held Dec. 5 if no one gets a majority.)
Republicans: Reps. Bob Livingston, W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, James McCrery and John Cooksey
Massachusetts
Democrats: Reps. Richard Neal, Barney Frank and Joseph Moakley
Michigan
Republicans: Rep. David Camp*
Mississippi
Democrats: Rep. Bennie Thompson*
Republicans: Rep. Charles (Chip) Pickering*
Nebraska
Republicans: Rep. Bill Barrett
Nevada
Republicans: Rep. James Gibbons*
New York
Democrats: Reps. Gregory Meeks and Nita Lowey
Republicans: Rep. Sherwood Boehlert
North Carolina
Democrats: Rep. Mike McIntyre
Republicans: Reps. Howard Coble and Cass Ballenger
Oregon
Democrats: Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Pennsylvania
Democrats: Rep. Frank Mascara
Republicans: Reps. John Peterson, Bud Shuster and George Gekas.
South Carolina
Republicans: Reps. Mark Sanford and Lindsey Graham
Tennessee
Democrats: Rep. Bob Clement* and John Tanner
Republicans: Reps. John Duncan* and Ed Bryant
Texas
Democrats: Reps. Lloyd Doggett*, Chet Edwards*, Silvestre Reyes*, Sheila Jackson Lee*, Ciro Rodriguez* and Gene Green*
Republicans: Reps. Sam Johnson*, Bill Archer*, Kevin Brady*, Kay Granger**, Lamar Smith* and Richard Armey*
Utah
Republicans: Rep. Christopher Cannon*
Virginia
Democrats: Reps. Owen Pickett, Robert Scott, Norman Sisisky and Virgil Goode
Republicans: Reps. Herbert Bateman, Thomas Bliley and Thomas Davis
Washington
Democrats: Rep. Jim McDermott*
West Virginia
Democrats: Reps. Alan Mollohan*, Robert Wise** and Nick Rahall*
Wisconsin
Republicans: Reps. Thomas Petri and James Sensenbrenner.
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