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Mississippi state legislative special elections, 2018

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In 2018, four special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Mississippi State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special election.

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Mississippi

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Mississippi State Legislature, a special election is required to fill the vacant seat. The governor must call for an election no later than 30 days after the vacancy happened. After the governor sets the election date, the counties conducting the election must be given at least 60 days' notice before the election. All qualifying deadlines are 50 days before the election.[1]

The governor can choose not to issue a writ of election if the vacancy occurs in the same calendar year as the general election for state officials.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Mississippi Code Ann. § 23-15-851


About the legislature

The Mississippi State Legislature is Mississippi's state legislature It 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 2015 general election. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Mississippi State Senate
Party As of November 3, 2015 After November 3, 2015
     Democratic Party 20 20
     Republican Party 32 32*
Total 52 52

In District 37, Robert Dearing (D) defeated incumbent Melanie Sojourner (R) by 64 votes. Sojourner formally challenged the outcome of the general election, claiming that there were irregularities at the polls. A Senate committee took up the challenge in January, and the chamber voted 47-3 to seat Dearing.[2][3]

Mississippi House of Representatives
Party As of November 3, 2015 After November 3, 2015
     Democratic Party 54 49*
     Republican Party 67 73
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 122 122

Special elections


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

February 20, 2018

July 10, 2018

November 6, 2018

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2018

In 2018, 99 state legislative special elections were held in 26 states. Between 2011 and 2017, an average of 74 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2018 special elections

In 2018, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 58 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 16 due to a retirement
  • 10 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 7 due to a resignation related to allegations of sexual misconduct
  • 5 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 2 due to a resignation to take a private sector job
  • 1 due to an election being rerun

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 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. In elections between 2011 and 2016, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of three seats across the country. In 2017, Democrats had a net gain of 11 seats.

Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2018)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 42 50
     Republican Party 57 49
     Independent 0 0
Total 99 99


Democrats gained 11 seats in 2017 special elections and eight seats in 2018 special elections. The table below details the results of special elections held in 2017 and 2018 cumulatively.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2017-2018)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 87 106
     Republican Party 110 91
     Independent 0 0
Total 197 197

Flipped seats

In 2018, 16 seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections. Twelve seats flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. Four seats flipped from Democratic control to Republican control.

In New York, a Democratic candidate running on the Republican ticket won election to Assembly District 142 on April 24. The previous incumbent in that district was a Democrat. Due to the winning candidate's party affiliation, Assembly District 142 was not added to the list of flipped seats in 2018.

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from D to R


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Justia US Law, "2020 Mississippi Code," accessed February 6, 2023 (Statute 23-15-851)
  2. ↑ Associated Press, "Sojourner challenges Mississippi Senate loss to Dearing," December 4, 2015
  3. ↑ Daily Journal, "Dearing seated as Legislature inches closer to taking up bills," January 19, 2016
  4. ↑ WAPT, "Governor sets special election to replace Moore," December 14, 2017
  5. ↑ Clarion Ledger, "Rep. John Moore resigns from Miss. House, cites health concerns," December 8, 2017
  6. ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "2018 Candidate Qualifying List," accessed January 3, 2018
  7. ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Special Election Official Results," February 23, 2018
  8. ↑ Rankin County, Mississippi, "Special Runoff Election Unofficial Results," March 13, 2018
  9. ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "State Rep. Gipson Named Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner," March 29, 2018
  10. ↑ WTOK.com, "2 go to runoff for Mississippi House seat," July 11, 2018
  11. ↑ MageeNews.com, "Price Wallace Wins District 77 Position," July 31, 2018
  12. ↑ News Mississippi, "Governor sets District 31 special election date," July 26, 2018
  13. ↑ Clarion Ledger, "Longtime Mississippi lawmaker Sara Richardson Thomas retiring," June 29, 2018
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Mississippi Today, "Middleton resigns from Mississippi House after more than 20 years," September 4, 2018
  15. ↑ The general election was cancelled after Wayne McMahen (R) was the only candidate to file for election.
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