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Arkansas state legislative special elections, 2020

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In 2020, three special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Arkansas General Assembly. 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:

March 3, 2020

November 3, 2020

Historical data

There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. Arkansas held 12 special elections during the same time period. The largest number of special elections in Arkansas took place in 2018 when five special elections were held.

The table below details how many state legislative special elections were held in a state in a given year.

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2020

In 2020, 55 state legislative special elections were held in 26 states. Four special elections were canceled in New York due to the coronavirus pandemic. Between 2011 and 2019, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2020 special elections

In 2020, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 23 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 5 due to a resignation related to criminal charges[13]
  • 18 due to retirement
  • 13 due to the death of the incumbent

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 2020. 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 2019, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country. Between 2018 and 2019, Democrats had a net gain of six seats.

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

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2020)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 21 27
     Republican Party 38 32
     Independent 0 0
Total 59 59

Flipped seats

In 2020, eight seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

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. ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "2 more Arkansas House hopefuls join race; another ends bid for Gates’ seat," October 29, 2019
  7. ↑ KATV7, "Rep. Mickey Gates expelled from Arkansas House in historic vote," October 11, 2019
  8. ↑ State of Arkansas, "Proclamation," accessed November 21, 2019
  9. ↑ Arkansas Times, "Civil rights giant John Walker has died at 82," October 28, 2019
  10. ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "Husband, wife running to succeed each other in the same state House seat in Rogers," July 30, 2020
  11. ↑ Fox16, "St. Rep. Grant Hodges resigns from Arkansas House of Representatives," July 10, 2020
  12. ↑ Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "State Representative Hodges hired by Northwest Arkansas Community College," June 25, 2020
  13. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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