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Delaware state legislative special elections, 2025

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In 2025, as of September, three special elections have been called to fill vacant seats in the Delaware State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Delaware

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Delaware General Assembly, the presiding officer of the house in which the vacancy happens must call for a special election within 10 days of the creation of the vacancy. The election must be called for no less than 30 days but no more than 35 days after the writ for the special election has been issued. The governor may issue a writ if the legislature is not in session.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Delaware Code Ann. tit. 15, § 7101


About the legislature

The Delaware General Assembly is the state legislature of Delaware. It is composed of the Delaware State Senate with 21 Senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 Representatives.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2025. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).


Delaware State Senate
Party As of November 5, 2024 After November 6, 2024
     Democratic Party 15 13
     Republican Party 6 6
     Vacancy 0 2
Total 21 21


Delaware House of Representatives
Party As of November 5, 2024 After November 6, 2024
     Democratic Party 26 27
     Republican Party 15 14
Total 41 41

Special elections

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

February 15

August 5, 2025

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2025

As of September 2025, 86 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2025 in 22 states. One special election has also been called to fill a vacancy in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Between 2011 and 2024, an average of 70 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2025 special elections

In 2025, special elections for state legislative positions are being held for the following reasons:

  • 37 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 22 due to resignation
  • 14 due to redistricting
  • 13 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to the officeholder leaving at term end


Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections is as follows:

As of September 5th, 2025, Republicans controlled 55.48% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.68%. Republicans held a majority in 57 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 39 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions. One chamber (Minnesota House of Representatives) was split evenly between both parties.

Partisan balance of all 7,386 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Grey.png Other Vacant
State senates 834 1,121 5 13
State houses 2,392 2,977 20 24
Total: 3,226

4,098

25

37


The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2025. 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 have been held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2025)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 46 25
     Republican Party 40 19
     Independent 0 1
Total 86 45

Flipped seats

In 2025, as of August 26, four seats have changed party hands as a result of state legislative special elections.


Seats that changed from D to I

Seats that changed from R to D



See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Delaware Legislature, "Delaware Election Code," accessed May 22, 2014 (Statutes § 7101 and § 7104, Delaware Code)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 State of Delaware, Department of Elections, "Proclamation of Special Election," January 11, 2025 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "proclamation" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ Delaware Public Media, "Date, candidates set for special election to fill vacant 20th District House seat," July 3, 2025
  4. ↑ ‘’News From The States’', "Rep. Parker Selby resigns after prolonged absence”, June 24, 2025
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