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Maine state legislative special elections, 2020

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

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Maine

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Maine State Legislature, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat.[1][2] The governor must call for an election and inform political committees of the nomination deadline.[3][1][2] The person elected to the seat serves for the remainder of the unexpired term.[4]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, § 382 Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, §366 and Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, § 381


About the legislature

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

Maine State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 17 21
     Republican Party 18 14
Total 35 35


Maine House of Representatives
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 73 89
     Republican Party 70 57
     Independent 7 5
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 151 151

Special elections

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

March 3, 2020

Historical data

There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. Maine held 14 special elections during the same time period. The largest number of special elections in Maine took place in 2011 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[7]
  • 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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maine Legislature, "Maine Revised Statutes," accessed February 11, 2021 (Statute 21A-381)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Maine Legislature, "Maine Revised Statutes," accessed February 11, 2021 (Statute 21A-382)
  3. ↑ Maine Legislature, "Constitution of the State of Maine," accessed February 11, 2021 (Article IV, Section 5)
  4. ↑ Maine Legislature, "Maine Revised Statutes," accessed February 11, 2021 (Statute 21A-361)
  5. ↑ Maine.gov, "Special election set to fill House District 128 seat," accessed January 13, 2020
  6. ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Archie Verow, legislator who represented most of Brewer, dies at 77," December 19, 2019
  7. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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