Missouri state legislative special elections, 2021
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In 2021, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the Missouri General Assembly.
Click here to read more about the special elections.
House special elections called:
- District 45: April 6
How vacancies are filled in Missouri
If there is a vacancy in the Missouri General Assembly, the governor of Missouri must call for a special election without delay. The election mandate is sent to the county or counties in the legislative district.[1]
See sources: Missouri Cons. Art. III, §14 and Missouri Rev. Stat. tit. III Ch. 21 §110
About the legislature
The Missouri General Assembly is a bicameral body composed of the Missouri House of Representatives, with 163 members, and the Missouri State Senate, with 34 members.
The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2021. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).
Missouri State Senate | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | As of November 3, 2020 | After November 4, 2020 | |
Democratic Party | 8 | 10 | |
Republican Party | 23 | 24 | |
Vacancy | 3 | 0 | |
Total | 34 | 34 |
Missouri House of Representatives | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | As of November 3, 2020 | After November 4, 2020 | |
Democratic Party | 48 | 49 | |
Republican Party | 113 | 114 | |
Vacancy | 2 | 0 | |
Total | 163 | 163 |
Special elections
Click [show] to the right of the district name for more information:
April 6, 2021
Missouri House of Representatives District 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A special election for Missouri House of Representatives District 45 was called for April 6, 2021. Political parties nominated candidates to run in the special election. The candidate filing deadline was January 27, 2021.[2] The seat became vacant after Kip Kendrick (D) resigned to become state Senator Greg Razer's (D) chief of staff.[3] General electionSpecial general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 45David T. Smith defeated Glenn Nielsen in the special general election for Missouri House of Representatives District 45 on April 6, 2021.
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Historical data
There were 782 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2020. Missouri held 27 special elections during the same time period; about two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Missouri took place in 2019 when six 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
In 2021, 66 state legislative special elections were held in 21 states. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year.
Breakdown of 2021 special elections
In 2021, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:
- 27 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
- 23 due to resignation
- 4 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
- 12 due to the death of the incumbent
Impact of special elections on partisan composition
The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:
- 33 Democratic seats
- 33 Republican seats
The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2021. 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 2020, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country.
Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.
Partisan Change from Special Elections (2021) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | As of Special Election | After Special Election | |
Democratic Party | 33 | 33 | |
Republican Party | 33 | 33 | |
Independent | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 66 | 66 |
Flipped seats
In 2021, six seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.
Seats flipped from D to R
- Connecticut State Senate District 36 (August 17)
- Iowa House of Representatives District 29 (October 12)
- Texas House of Representatives District 118 (November 2)
Seats flipped from R to D
- New Hampshire House of Representatives District Hillsborough 7 (September 7)
- Maine House of Representatives District 86 (November 2)
- Massachusetts House of Representatives Fourth Essex District (November 30)
See also
- State legislative special elections, 2021
- State legislative special elections, 2020
- State legislative special elections, 2019
- Missouri General Assembly
Footnotes
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State of Missouri Jefferson City (capital) |
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