Massachusetts state legislative special elections, 2018

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
2019 →
← 2017
2018 badge.png
2018 State Legislative
Special Elections
States
Alabama • Arkansas • California
Connecticut • Florida • Georgia
Iowa • Kentucky
Louisiana • Massachusetts
Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi
Missouri • New Hampshire
New York • Oklahoma
Pennsylvania • South Carolina
Tennessee • Texas • Wisconsin
Other 2018 Election coverage
Filing deadlines • Statewide elections
State legislative elections
Gubernatorial elections • Ballot measures

In 2018, as of March, three special elections have been called to fill vacant seats in the Massachusetts General Court. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Massachusetts


If there is a vacancy in the Massachusetts General Court, a special election must be conducted to fill the vacant seat. The election must be held on the next regularly scheduled date on the election calendar.[1] Local governments that conduct special elections receive reimbursement from the state treasurer's office for all costs incurred.[2][3]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Massachusetts Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 54, § 141 and Massachusetts Const. Amend. Art. 24

About the legislature

The Massachusetts State Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court. There are 40 members. Each member represented an average of 163,691 residents as of the 2010 Census.[4] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 158,727 residents.[5] Senators are elected in even-numbered years to two-year terms and take office on the first Wednesday in January following the election.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court. There are 160 members. Each member represented an average of 40,923 residents as of the 2010 Census.[6] After the 2000 Census, each member represented approximately 39,682 residents.[7] Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives are elected in even-numbered years and serve two-year terms that are not subject to term limits.

Partisan breakdown

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2017. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Massachusetts House of Representatives
Party As of November 7, 2016 After November 8, 2016
     Democratic Party 125 125
     Republican Party 34 35
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 160 160
Massachusetts State Senate
Party As of November 7, 2016 After November 8, 2016
     Democratic Party 34 34
     Republican Party 6 6
Total 40 40

Special elections

What's on your ballot?
 Find out with Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup tool:

March 6, 2018

April 3, 2018

May 1, 2018

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2018

Between 2011 and 2017, an average of 74 special elections took place each year. A total of 25 states use special elections to fill legislative vacancies. In two other states—Illinois and Indiana—special elections are used in limited circumstances. The rest of the states fill vacancies either through appointments made by the governor of the state or by a commission made up of officials from the former member's party. In 2018, as of March, 22 state legislative seats have been filled through a special election and 38 other state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 17 states.

Breakdown of 2018 special elections

In 2018, special elections for state legislative positions are being held for a variety of reasons:

  • 35 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 6 due to a retirement
  • 7 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 5 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 5 due to a resignation related to sexual harassment allegations
  • 1 due to health issues
  • 2 due to resignation to take a private sector job

The partisan breakdown for the special elections is as follows:

As of February 28, 2018, the following figures represent the cumulative partisan breakdown of the 50 state senates and 49 state houses. In the 50 states, Republicans currently control 56 percent of all seats, while Democrats hold 42.5 percent. All told, Republicans control 67 chambers, while Democrats are the majority in 32 chambers.[14]

Partisan balance of all 7,383 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Other[15]
State senates 803 1,141 28
State houses 2,336 2,994 81
Total: 3,139 4,135 109

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2018. 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. It is not typical to see significant net changes in overall state legislative party composition because of special elections. In elections between 2011 and 2016, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of three seats across the country, although actual races won and lost by each party varied more. For instance, in 2015, Democrats lost nine seats to Republicans but won six different seats in other races, resulting in a net loss of three seats.

Note: This table reflects information for elections that have been held and not total vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2018)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 4 10
     Republican Party 19 13
     Independent 0 0
Total 23 23

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Massachusetts General Court, "General Laws," accessed May 22, 2014 (Section Chapter 50, Section 6A)
  2. ↑ Massachusetts General Court, "General Laws," accessed May 22, 2014 (Section Chapter 3: Section 10A)
  3. ↑ Massachusetts General Court, "General Laws," accessed May 22, 2014 (Section Chapter 54: Section 141)
  4. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010," April 2011
  5. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "States Ranked by Population," April 2, 2001
  6. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010," April 2011
  7. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "States Ranked by Population," April 2, 2001
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Marble Head, "Special election to fill McGee vacancy March 6," November 16, 2017
  9. ↑ Essex Wicked Local, "STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- Going into holiday hibernation," January 2, 2018
  10. ↑ Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Special State Election - 2nd Bristol Representative District," accessed January 10, 2018
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Sun Chronicle, "Special elections set for Attleboro state rep race," January 10, 2018 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "sunc" defined multiple times with different content
  12. ↑ Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, "Special State Primary Candidates - 2nd Bristol State Representative District," accessed February 7, 2018
  13. ↑ Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Special State Election - 1st Suffolk Senatorial District," accessed January 31, 2018
  14. ↑ Nebraska is officially nonpartisan but is held by a Republican majority. For more information on how Ballotpedia determined the partisan affiliation for Nebraska senators, please click here.
  15. ↑ This tally includes third-party incumbents and vacancies.
v • e
State legislatures
Legislatures
Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)
SLP badge.png
2018
Historical elections
2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000
Features of
state legislatures
State senates
State houses
Leadership positions
v • e
Ballotpedia
About
Staff
Elections
Governance
Marquee
Quality
Projects
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Massachusetts_state_legislative_special_elections,_2018&oldid=7275194"