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Kentucky state legislative special elections, 2020
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In 2020, four special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Kentucky General Assembly in 2020. Click here to read more about the special elections.
Senate special elections called:
- District 38: January 14
- District 26: June 23
House special elections called:
- District 67: February 25
- District 99: February 25
How vacancies are filled in Kentucky
If there is a vacancy in the Kentucky General Assembly, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. The governor must call for an election if the General Assembly is not in session. The presiding officer in the house where the vacancy happened must call for an election if lawmakers are in session.[1] All nominating petitions must be filed at least 56 days before the election.[2]
See sources: Kentucky Rev. Stat. § 118.730-§118.770
About the legislature
The Kentucky General Assembly consists of the lower House of Representatives and the upper State Senate. 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).
Kentucky State Senate | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | As of November 6, 2018 | After November 7, 2018 | |
Democratic Party | 11 | 10 | |
Republican Party | 27 | 28 | |
Total | 38 | 38 |
Kentucky House of Representatives | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | As of November 6, 2018 | After November 7, 2018 | |
Democratic Party | 37 | 39 | |
Republican Party | 62 | 61 | |
Vacancy | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 100 | 100 |
Special elections
Click [show] to the right of the district name for more information:
January 14, 2020
Kentucky State Senate District 38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for District 38 of the Kentucky State Senate was called for January 14, 2020. Party county executive committees chose the nominee and had until November 26, 2019, to file candidate nominating papers.[3] The seat became vacant when Dan Seum (R) resigned his seat on November 16, 2019.[4] General electionSpecial general election for Kentucky State Senate District 38Mike Nemes defeated Andrew Bailey in the special general election for Kentucky State Senate District 38 on January 14, 2020.
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February 25, 2020
Kentucky House of Representatives District 67 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for District 67 of the Kentucky House of Representatives was called for February 25, 2020. Party county executive committees chose the nominee and had until January 7, 2020, to file candidate nominating papers.[5] The seat became vacant when Dennis Keene (D) resigned on December 16, 2019, to take a job as the commissioner of the Department for Local Government in Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) gubernatorial administration.[6] General electionSpecial general election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 67Rachel Roberts defeated Mary Jo Wedding in the special general election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 67 on February 25, 2020.
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Kentucky House of Representatives District 99 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for District 99 of the Kentucky House of Representatives was called for February 25, 2020. Party county executive committees chose the nominee and had until January 7, 2020, to file candidate nominating papers.[5] The seat became vacant when Rocky Adkins (D) resigned on December 10, 2019, to take a job as a senior adviser in his gubernatorial administration.[7] General electionSpecial general election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 99Richard White defeated Bill Redwine in the special general election for Kentucky House of Representatives District 99 on February 25, 2020.
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June 23, 2020
Kentucky State Senate District 26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for District 26 of the Kentucky State Senate was called for June 23, 2020. Party county executive committees choose the nominee.[8] The seat became vacant when Ernie Harris (R) retired from the legislature on April 15, 2020.[8] General electionSpecial general election for Kentucky State Senate District 26Karen Berg defeated Bill Ferko in the special general election for Kentucky State Senate District 26 on June 23, 2020.
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Historical data
There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. Kentucky held 19 special elections during the same time period; nearly two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Kentucky took place in 2012, 2013, and 2016 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
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[9]
- 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:
- 21 Democratic seats
- 38 Republican seats
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
- Kentucky House of Representatives District 99 (February 25)
Seats flipped from R to D
- New Hampshire House of Representatives Merrimack 24 District (March 10)
- Massachusetts State Senate Second Hampden & Hampshire District (May 19)
- Massachusetts State Senate Plymouth & Barnstable District (May 19)
- Massachusetts House of Representatives Third Bristol District (June 2)
- Kentucky State Senate District 26 (June 23)
- South Carolina House of Representatives District 115 (August 11)
- Oregon State Senate District 10 (November 3)
See also
- 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
- Kentucky State Legislature
Footnotes
- ↑ Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, "Kentucky Revised Statutes," accessed February 10, 2021 (Statute 118.730)
- ↑ Kentucky General Assembly, "Kentucky Revised Statutes," accessed February 28, 2025 (Statute 118.770)
- ↑ Jaclyn Beran, "Telephone conversation with the Kentucky Secretary of State's office," November 21, 2019
- ↑ LEX 18, "Republican senator who endorsed Beshear resigns office," November 1, 2019
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 WKMS, "Beshear Sets Special Election Date For Two Kentucky House Seats," December 30, 2019
- ↑ Twitter, "Dennis Keene on Twitter," December 16, 2019
- ↑ WKYT, "Gov.-elect Beshear fills 10 central administration positions in his administration," December 9, 2019
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Oldham Era, "Ernie Harris retiring as state senator after 25 years," April 10, 2020
- ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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