Arkansas state legislative special elections, 2022
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In 2022, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the Arkansas General Assembly in 2022. Click here to read more about the special elections.
Senate special elections called:
- District 7: February 8
How vacancies are filled in Arkansas
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]
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 3, 2020 | After November 4, 2020 | |
| Democratic Party | 9 | 7 | |
| Republican Party | 26 | 28 | |
| Total | 35 | 35 | |
| Arkansas House of Representatives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 3, 2020 | After November 4, 2020 | |
| Democratic Party | 23 | 22 | |
| Republican Party | 75 | 78 | |
| Vacancy | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 100 | 100 | |
Special elections
Click [show] to the right of the district name for more information:
February 8, 2022
| Arkansas State Senate District 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for District 7 of the Arkansas State Senate was called for February 8, 2022. A special election primary was called for December 14, 2021. A primary runoff was scheduled for January 11, 2022. The candidate filing deadline was November 22, 2021.[6] The seat became vacant after Lance Eads (R) resigned from the state Senate on October 28, 2021, to accept a position with Capitol Consulting Firm.[7] General electionSpecial general election for Arkansas State Senate District 7Colby Fulfer defeated Lisa Parks in the special general election for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on February 8, 2022.
Republican primary runoff electionSpecial Republican primary runoff for Arkansas State Senate District 7Colby Fulfer defeated Steven Unger in the special Republican primary runoff for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on January 11, 2022.
Democratic primary electionSpecial Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7Lisa Parks defeated Derek Van Voast in the special Democratic primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on December 14, 2021.
Republican primary electionSpecial Republican primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7Colby Fulfer and Steven Unger advanced to a runoff. They defeated Jim Bob Duggar and Edge Nowlin in the special Republican primary for Arkansas State Senate District 7 on December 14, 2021.
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Historical data
There were 848 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2021. Arkansas held 15 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
In 2022, 54 state legislative special elections were scheduled in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2021, an average of 74 special elections took place each year.
Breakdown of 2022 special elections
In 2022, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:
- 21 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
- 24 due to resignation
- 9 due to the death of the incumbent
Impact of special elections on partisan composition
The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:
- 36 Democratic seats
- 18 Republican seats
The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2022. 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.
Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.
| Partisan Change from Special Elections (2022) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of Special Election | After Special Election | |
| Democratic Party | 36 | 36 | |
| Republican Party | 18 | 18 | |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 54 | 54 | |
Flipped seats
In 2022, two seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.
Seats flipped from D to R
- Montana State Senate District 39 (November 8)
Seats flipped from R to D
See also
- State legislative special elections, 2022
- State legislative special elections, 2021
- State legislative special elections, 2020
- State legislative special elections, 2019
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2017
- State legislative special elections, 2016
- Arkansas General Assembly
Footnotes
- ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-118)
- ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-119)
- ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 10-2-120(a)(1))
- ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statutes, 7-11-103(a))
- ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "Arkansas Code - Unannotated," accessed February 24, 2025 (Statutes, 7-11-105 1 (a)-(c))
- ↑ Governor of Arkansas, "2021 Special Election Proclamation State Senate District 7," accessed December 9, 2021
- ↑ Talk Business, "Sen. Lance Eads to resign Senate seat for new employment opportunity," October 28, 2021
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