I thought the race for Washington State's Insurance Commissioner was pretty instructive on this point. No one serious from the Republican party ran because no one really objects to the existence of the current guy, so the guy who ran with the R next to his name was, not making a lot of sense in the voter's guide. (He was going to hire 168 people to do his job, 1 hour at a time, among other things that didn't make a lot of sense). He still got 35% of the vote.