Ballotpedia Coffee Club: Special elections
Special elections
When a legislator leaves office for any reason, it creates a vacancy in the chamber. These vacancies can be filled by appointment or special election, as determined by federal and state law. In this month's Ballotpedia Coffee Club, we're going to dive into one of those options: special elections. Special elections can garner nationwide attention because they can result in that seat flipping partisan control or because pundits may interpret the results as indicative of the larger political climate.
State law sets rules for how and when special elections are held and often these rules vary by office. For example,
- In 14 states, a special election is required within a certain time frame to fill any U.S. Senate vacancies
- The U.S. Constitution requires all U.S. House vacancies to be filled by special election.
- 25 states fill state legislative vacancies through special elections with a further two states using a hybrid appointment and special election system.
Congress
So far this year, six special elections to Congress have been held and three elections are pending. Since 2013, 43 congressional special elections have been held. During that time, three congressional seats were flipped, as shown in the table below.
| U.S. Senate special election partisan change from special elections, 113th Congress to 116th Congress | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of special election | After special election | ||||
 Democrats |
4 | 5 | ||||
 Republicans |
4 | 3 | ||||
| Total | 8 | 8 | ||||
| U.S. House special election partisan change from special elections, 113th Congress to 116th Congress | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of special election | After special election | ||||
| Democrats |
11 | 13 | ||||
| Republicans |
27 | 25 | ||||
| Total | 38 | 38 | ||||
State legislative
This year, 43 state legislative special elections have been scheduled across 20 states. Between 2011 and 2019, an average of 77 special elections took place each year. 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. So far in 2020, 4 state legislative seats have been flipped.
| Flipped seats in state legislative special elections | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total special elections | Total flips | Democratic flips | Republican flips | Other flips |
| 2019 | 77 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2018 | 99 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 2017 | 98 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| 2016 | 66 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| 2015 | 88 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| 2014 | 40 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2013 | 84 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 2012 | 46 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 2011 | 95 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 2010 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 723 | 97 | 52 | 39 | 6 |
As we mentioned above, not all state legislative vacancies are filled through special elections. The map below shows which method states have adopted.
Learn more
Learn more about 2020's congressional special elections here!
Learn more about 2020's state legislative special elections here!
