| ←2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 → Off-year elections | |
| Election day | November 8 |
|---|---|
| Congressional special elections | |
| Seats contested | 3 |
| Net seat change | 0 |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 3 (2 states, 1 territory) |
| Net seat change | 0 |
 | |
| 2005 gubernatorial election results map | |
| Legend | |
| Democratic hold Covenant gain No election | |
Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2005. During thisoff-year election, the only seats up for election in theUnited States Congress werespecial elections held throughout the year. None of these congressional seats changed party hands. There were also twogubernatorial races,state legislative elections in two states, numerouscitizen initiatives,mayoral races in several major cities, and a variety of local offices on the ballot.
Usual for an offyear election under aRepublicanpresident, theDemocratic Party are successful in the races for thegovernorships inVirginia andNew Jersey, but the Democrats did worse in these two states than they did in2001. Despite the underperformance, they are still favorable showings for the Democrats and they ultimately cruised to ablue wave in the2006 mid-term elections.
There were three total special elections to the United States House of Representatives during 2005:California's 5th congressional district,California's 48th, andOhio's 2nd. In each of these special elections, the incumbent party won.[1]
OnlyNew Jersey,Virginia, and theNorthern Mariana Islands featured off-year gubernatorial races in 2005.
DemocraticU.S. SenatorJon Corzine defeatedRepublican businessmanDoug Forrester 53% to 43%, taking the open seat held by acting governorRichard Codey since DemocratJim McGreevey resigned in 2004.[2]
Democratic Lieutenant GovernorTim Kaine defeated former Republican Attorney GeneralJerry Kilgore 52% to 46%, in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic GovernorMark Warner.[2]
Benigno Fitial, who belonged to the localCovenant Party, narrowly defeated independentHeinz Hofschneider and incumbent Republican GovernorJuan N. Babauta to win the governorship in that U.S. territory.[3]
Legislative elections were held for theNew Jersey General Assembly, theVirginia House of Delegates, and theNorthern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. Democrats maintained a comfortable majority in the lower house of the New Jersey legislature, while Republicans maintained control of the lower chamber of the Virginia legislature.
Perceiving the Supreme Court's decisions as supporting corruption and secrecy inHarrisburg, voters refused to grant State Supreme Court JusticeRussell Nigro a retention vote. Nigro lost very narrowly, becoming the first justice inPennsylvania history to lose a retention vote. Fellow JusticeSandra Schultz Newman was retained. The vote was closely connected with the backlash against the Harrisburg establishment and the 2005 legislative pay raise which increased judges' and legislators' salaries.
Many additional cities across the United States held mayoral elections; this list is representative, not inclusive. Nationally, the vast majority of mayors were reelected, often by wide margins, and there were few partisan upsets.
Some of the major races included:
