Editing Write-in candidate (section)

===State legislatures===
*Several members of the [[Alaska House of Representatives]] were elected as write-in candidates during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly from [[The Bush (Alaska)|rural districts]] in the [[Far North Alaska|northern and western portions of the state]]. Factors in play at the time include the newness of Alaska as a state and the previous absence of electoral politics in many of the rural communities, creating an environment which made it hard to attract candidates to file for office during the official filing period. Most of the areas in question were largely populated by [[Alaska natives]], who held little political power in Alaska at the time. This only began to change following the formation of the [[Alaska Federation of Natives]] and the passage of the [[Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act]]. Known examples of successful write-in candidates include Kenneth A. Garrison and [[Society of Jesus|Father]] [[Segundo Llorente]] (1960), Frank R. Ferguson (1972), James H. "Jimmy" Huntington (1974), and Nels A. Anderson Jr. (1976). The incumbent in Llorente's election, Axel C. Johnson, ran for re-election as a write-in candidate after failing to formally file his candidacy paperwork. Johnson and Llorente, as write-in candidates, both outpolled the one candidate who did appear on the ballot. Ferguson and Anderson were both incumbents who launched their write-in campaigns after being defeated in the [[Partisan primary|primary election]]. Anderson's main opponent, Joseph McGill, had himself won election to the House in 1970 against a write-in candidate by only five votes.
*[[Carl Hawkinson]] of [[Galesburg, Illinois]] won the Republican primary for the [[Illinois Senate]] from Illinois's 47th District in 1986 as a write-in candidate. He went on to be elected in the general election and served until 2003. Hawkinson defeated another write-in, David Leitch, in the primary. Incumbent State Senator Prescott Bloom died in a home fire after the filing date for the primary had passed.
* Arizona state senator [[Don Shooter]] won the 2010 primary as a write-in and went on to win the general election.
*After failing to receive the Republican Party's 1990 [[Wilson Pakula]] nomination, incumbent and registered [[Conservative Party of New York State|Conservative]] New York State Senator [[Serphin Maltese]] won the party's nomination as a write-in candidate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.queensnewyork.com/elections/senateny/maltese.html|title=Serphin R. Maltese R-C;|access-date=April 15, 2016}}</ref>
*[[Charlotte Burks]] won as a Democratic write-in candidate for the [[Tennessee Senate]] seat left vacant when the incumbent, her husband [[Tommy Burks|Tommy]], was assassinated by his opponent, [[Byron Looper]], two weeks before the elections of November 2, 1998. The assassin was the only name on the ballot, so Charlotte ran as a write-in candidate.
*[[Winnie Brinks]] was elected to the [[Michigan House of Representatives]] in 2012 after a series of unusual events. In May of that year, State Representative Roy Schmidt – who had previously filed to run for re-election as a Democrat – withdrew from the Democratic primary and re-filed as a Republican. A friend of Schmidt's nephew filed to run as a Democrat, but withdrew two days later amid anger among local Democrats. This left Democrats without a candidate. Brinks ran as a write-in to be the Democratic nominee. She won the primary and was listed on the ballot in the general election, which she also won. Coincidentally, the general election also saw a write-in candidate, Bing Goei, receive significant support.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/12/winnie_brinks.html|title=Winnie Brinks takes oath of office as Michigan's 76th District State Representative|work=MLive.com|date=December 9, 2012|access-date=April 15, 2016}}</ref>
*[[Scott Wagner]] was elected as an anti-establishment Republican write-in candidate to the [[Pennsylvania Senate]] in a March 2014 special election over endorsed Republican nominee [[Ron Miller (Pennsylvania politician)|Ron Miller]] and Democrat Linda Small.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jan|last=Murphy|url=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/03/york_county_senate_seat_winner.html |title=Scott Wagner makes history with his win in York County Senate race |publisher=PennLive.com |date=March 18, 2014 |access-date=March 19, 2014}}</ref>
*[[Nick Freitas]] was re-elected as a write-in candidate after missing a filing deadline to appear on the ballot in the Virginia House of Delegates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fredericksburg.com/news/local/freitas-write-in-campaign-focused-on-winning-supporting-other-gop/article_0fd0e98b-33e4-5b4d-b25f-d03de9e72ffa.html|title=Freitas write-in campaign focused on winning, supporting other GOP candidates|last=STAR-EXPONENT|first=ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION CULPEPER|website=Fredericksburg.com|date=August 20, 2019 |language=en|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011001006/https://www.fredericksburg.com/news/local/freitas-write-in-campaign-focused-on-winning-supporting-other-gop/article_0fd0e98b-33e4-5b4d-b25f-d03de9e72ffa.html|archive-date=October 11, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.starexponent.com/news/abundant-spelling-variations-as-culpeper-certifies-write-in-votes-for/article_973fa6db-37d0-567a-9f04-ea6aa56dee9f.html|title=Abundant spelling variations as Culpeper certifies 5,205 write-in votes for Nick Freitas|first1= Allison|last1 =Brophy Champion|publisher= [[Culpeper Star-Exponent]]|date= November 9, 2019}}</ref>
*In November 2024, [[Scott Madon]] won the election as a write-in candidate for the [[Kentucky Senate]]. The incumbent senator, [[Johnnie Turner (Kentucky politician)|Johnnie Turner]], died two weeks before the election. Madon was one of 11 write-in candidates who ran to replace the late Turner, and he won with more the double the votes of his nearest rival.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2024/11/07/pineville-mayor-elected-to-senate|title=Mayor Scott Madon wins write-in campaign to succeed late Kentucky lawmaker|date=November 7, 2024| publisher= [[Spectrum News]]| first= Austin |last=Schick }}</ref>