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California state legislative special elections, 2020

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2020 State Legislative
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In 2020, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the California State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in California

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the California State Legislature, the governor must call for a special election. The governor must call the election within 14 calendar days of the vacancy. No special election shall be held if the vacancy occurs after the nominating deadline has passed in the final year of the term of office.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: California Code, 1773 and California Cons. Art. IV, § 2


About the legislature

The California State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the California House of Representatives, with 100 members, and the California 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).

California State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 26 29
     Republican Party 14 11
Total 40 40
California State Assembly
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 55 60
     Republican Party 25 20
Total 80 80

Special elections

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

May 12, 2020

Historial data

There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. California held 31 special elections during the same time period; about three per year on average. The largest number of special elections in California took place in 2013 when nine 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[5]
  • 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. ↑ California Legislative Information, "California Code," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statute, 1773-California Government Code)
  2. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Special Election Calendar - Special Primary Election March 3, 2020," accessed November 18, 2019
  3. ↑ CA.gov, "Governor Newsom Issues Proclamations Declaring Special Elections for 25th Congressional District and 28th Senate District," November 15, 2019
  4. ↑ Desert Sun,' "State Sen. Jeff Stone to join Trump's labor department, likely prompting special election," October 30, 2019
  5. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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