contested primary
Fought party election
A contested primary is a primary election with multiple serious candidates competing for the nomination, as opposed to an uncontested race where an incumbent or frontrunner faces no meaningful opposition.
The term often implies genuine uncertainty about the outcome: The party faced a bruising contested primary before unifying for the general election.
Contested primaries can energize voter turnout but may also weaken the eventual nominee through internal attacks.
- electionOrganized public voting
- campaignOrganized effort toward goal
- Super TuesdayConcurrent multi-state primary date
- delegateEntrust authority to another
- candidatePerson seeking selection
challenger · incumbent · dark horse · ballot · vote · polling · voter turnout · caucus · convention · frontrunner · name recognition · endorsement · debate · mudslinging · attack ads · negative campaigning · attack · ads
- Nominationsnomination, nominee, candidate, nomination process, nomination speech
- primariescaucuses, delegates, nominee, caucus system, caucus
contested primarycoronation
Ceremony installing a sovereign
walkover · foregone conclusion · acclamation · anointment · cakewalk
contested, primary, contest, contests, contesting, contestant, contestants, contestable, uncontested