Kentucky state legislative special elections, 2022

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2023
2021
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2022 State Legislative
Special Elections

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In 2022, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

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]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Kentucky Rev. Stat. § 118.730-§118.770


About the legislature

The Kentucky General Assembly is a bicameral body composed of the Kentucky House of Representatives, with 100 members, and the Kentucky State Senate, with 38 members.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2022. 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 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 10 8
     Republican Party 28 30
Total 38 38


Kentucky House of Representatives
Party As of November 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 37 25
     Republican Party 62 75
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 100 100

Special elections

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

February 22, 2022


Historical data

There were 848 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2021. Kentucky held 26 special elections during the same time period; about two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Kentucky took place in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2020 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, 2022

In 2022, 54 state legislative special elections were scheduled in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2021, an average of 74 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2022 special elections

In 2022, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 21 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 24 due to resignation
  • 9 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 2022. 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 were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2022)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 36 36
     Republican Party 18 18
     Independent 0 0
Total 54 54

Flipped seats

In 2022, two 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