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Arkansas state legislative special elections, 2019

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In 2019, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the Arkansas General Assembly. One special election primary was scheduled for a special election that took place on March 3, 2020.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Arkansas

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Arkansas General Assembly, the governor must call for a special election to fill the vacancy. The election must be called by the governor without delay.[1][2] For all special elections in the Senate, the county that first established the district is responsible for conducting the election.[3] If the special election is to fill a House seat, the county board of election commissioners representing the vacant district conducts the election.[4][5]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Arkansas Stat. Ann. § 7-11-103 and Arkansas Cons. Art. 5, § 6


About the legislature

The Arkansas General Assembly is a bicameral body composed of the Arkansas House of Representatives, with 100 members, and the Arkansas State Senate, with 35 members. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2018 general election. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Arkansas State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 9 9
     Republican Party 25 26
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 35 35
Arkansas House of Representatives
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 24 24
     Republican Party 75 76
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 100 100

Special elections

Click [show] to the right of the district name for more information:

November 5, 2019

December 10, 2019


Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2019

In 2019, 77 state legislative special elections were held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2019 special elections

In 2019, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 47 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 21 due to a retirement
  • 6 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 2 due to an election being rerun

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2019. The number on the left reflects how many vacant seats were originally held by each party, while the number on the right shows how many vacant seats each party won in the special elections. In elections between 2011 and 2018, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country. Between 2017 and 2018, Democrats had a net gain of 19 seats.

Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2019)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 39 36
     Republican Party 38 40
     Independent 0 1
Total 77 77

Flipped seats

In 2019, eight seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from R to I

State profile

See also: Arkansas and Arkansas elections, 2019
USA Arkansas location map.svg

Partisan data

The information in this section was current as of May 7, 2019

Presidential voting pattern

  • Arkansas voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Congressional delegation

State executives

State legislature

Arkansas Party Control: 1992-2025
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eleven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Arkansas quick stats
More Arkansas coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for Arkansas
 ArkansasU.S.
Total population:2,977,853316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):52,0353,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:78%73.6%
Black/African American:15.5%12.6%
Asian:1.4%5.1%
Native American:0.6%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.2%0.2%
Two or more:2.1%3%
Hispanic/Latino:6.9%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:84.8%86.7%
College graduation rate:21.1%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$41,371$53,889
Persons below poverty level:22.9%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Arkansas.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-118)
  2. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-119)
  3. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-120(a)(1))
  4. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 7-11-103(a))
  5. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 24, 2025 (Statutes, 7-11-105 1 (a)-(c))
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "Governor sets special election for House seat vacated by lawmaker who resigned to work with Little Rock mayor," May 30, 2019
  7. ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "Procedure settled in District 36 race," October 31, 2019
  8. ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "2 more Arkansas House hopefuls join race; another ends bid for Gates’ seat," October 29, 2019
  9. ↑ KATV7, "Rep. Mickey Gates expelled from Arkansas House in historic vote," October 11, 2019
  10. ↑ State of Arkansas, "Proclamation," accessed November 21, 2019
  11. ↑ Arkansas Times, "Civil rights giant John Walker has died at 82," October 28, 2019
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