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Iowa state legislative special elections, 2021

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In 2021, four special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Iowa State Legislature . Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Iowa

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Iowa General Assembly, the vacant seat must be filled by a special election. The governor of Iowa is required within five days of a vacancy in the General Assembly to call for a special election. If the vacancy happens in session or within 45 days of the session convening, the governor must call for an election as soon as possible with at least an 18-day notice. All other special elections require a 40-day notice as long the election does not happen on the same day as a school election within the district.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Iowa Code § 69.14


About the legislature

The Iowa State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the Iowa State Senate, with 50 members, and the Iowa House of Representatives, with 100 members. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2020 general election. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Iowa State Senate
Party As of November 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 18 18
     Republican Party 32 32
Total 50 50


Iowa House of Representatives
Party As of November 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 47 41
     Republican Party 53 59
Total 100 100

Special elections

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

January 26, 2021


September 14, 2021


October 12, 2021

December 14, 2021

Historical data

There were 782 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2020. Iowa held 22 special elections during the same time period; about two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Iowa took place in both 2015 and 2017 when four 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[19]
  • 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. ↑ Iowa General Assembly, "Iowa Code - 2021," accessed February 9, 2021 (Statute 69.14)
  2. ↑ KYOU News, "Mariannette Miller-Meeks submits her resignation from the Iowa Senate," December 30, 2020
  3. ↑ KCCI Des Moines, "Miller-Meeks steps down from Iowa Senate, to be seated provisionally in U.S. House," December 30, 2020
  4. ↑ Bleeding Heartland, "Adrian Dickey, Mary Stewart to face off in Iowa Senate district 41," January 7, 2021
  5. ↑ Des Moines Register, "Adrian Dickey, Mary Stewart running to replace Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the Iowa Senate," January 24, 2021
  6. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "State Senate District 41 - Special Election," accessed December 31, 2020
  7. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Candidate List," accessed January 24, 2021
  8. ↑ Facebook, "Mary Stewart for Iowa Senate on January 5, 2021," accessed January 24, 2021
  9. ↑ Facebook, "Adrian Dickey," accessed January 24, 2021
  10. ↑ Office of the Governor of Iowa, "Gov. Reynolds sets date for Iowa House District 37 special election," August 3, 2021
  11. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "State Representative District 37 – Special Election," accessed August 5, 2021
  12. ↑ KWWL, "District 37 Representative John Landon dies at 71," July 29, 2021
  13. ↑ Office of the Governor of Iowa, "Gov. Reynolds sets date for Iowa House District 29 special election," September 14, 2021
  14. ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email correspondence with Jasper County Auditor's office," September 21, 2021
  15. ↑ Des Moines Register, "Iowa state Rep. Wes Breckenridge to resign from Iowa House after taking new job," September 8, 2021
  16. ↑ Office of the Governor of Iowa, "Gov. Reynolds sets date for Iowa Senate District 1 special election ," November 3, 2021
  17. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "State Senate District 1 – Special Election," accessed November 9, 2021
  18. ↑ KTIV 4, "Spirit Lake, IA State Senator Zach Whiting will resign seat," October 28, 2021
  19. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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