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Mississippi state legislative special elections, 2019

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In 2019, four special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Mississippi State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

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 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:

March 12, 2019

November 5, 2019

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2019

In 2019, 77 state legislative special elections were held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2019 special elections

In 2019, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 47 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 21 due to a retirement
  • 6 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 2 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 2019. 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 2018, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country. Between 2017 and 2018, Democrats had a net gain of 19 seats.

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

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2019)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 39 36
     Republican Party 38 40
     Independent 0 1
Total 77 77

Flipped seats

In 2019, eight seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from R to I

State profile

See also: Mississippi and Mississippi elections, 2019
USA Mississippi location map.svg

Partisan data

The information in this section was current as of May 7, 2019

Presidential voting pattern

  • Mississippi voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Congressional delegation

State executives

  • Democrats held three and Republicans held 9 of Mississippi's 15 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
  • Mississippi's governor was Republican Phil Bryant.

State legislature

Mississippi Party Control: 1992-2025
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Fourteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R[15] D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Mississippi quick stats
More Mississippi coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for Mississippi
 MississippiU.S.
Total population:2,989,390316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):46,9233,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:59.2%73.6%
Black/African American:37.4%12.6%
Asian:1%5.1%
Native American:0.4%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:1.2%3%
Hispanic/Latino:2.9%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:82.3%86.7%
College graduation rate:20.7%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$39,665$53,889
Persons below poverty level:27%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Mississippi.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

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. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Clarion Ledger, "March 12 set for special elections to replace 3 House members," January 8, 2019
  5. ↑ Greenwood Commonwealth, "Candidate disqualified from special election," January 25, 2019
  6. ↑ WLOX.com, "DeLano officially files petition contesting results of District 50 State Senate race," August 26, 2019
  7. ↑ WLOX.com, "Recount for District 50 Senate seat complete, report to be filed with Republican Executive Committee," August 24, 2019
  8. ↑ WLOX.com, "Dixie Newman declared winner after election results certified," August 14, 2019
  9. ↑ Y'all Politics, "District 50 Senate seat headed to a re-vote," September 4, 2019
  10. ↑ WLOX, "Special election possible for District 50 Senate seat," September 4, 2019
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Sun Herald, " Dixie Newman’s victory vacated. Judge orders special election for Senate race in Biloxi," September 17, 2019
  12. ↑ WLOX, "Judge orders partial re-vote in District 50 Senate race," September 17, 2019
  13. ↑ The Circuit Court of Harrison County, MS, "Order in RE: Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 50, B/W Scott DeLano and Dixie Newman," accessed September 20, 2019
  14. ↑ WLOX, "Senate District 50 special election to be held on same day as general election," September 20, 2019
  15. ↑ Republicans gained a majority in 2007 when two Democratic state senators switched their party affiliation. Democrats regained the majority as a result of the 2007 elections.
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