New Hampshire state legislative special elections, 2020

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In 2020, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the New Hampshire General Court. Click here to read more about the special election.

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in New Hampshire

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the New Hampshire General Court, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. The governor and executive council must call a special election within 21 days of receiving proof of a vacancy or a request that a vacancy be filled.[1][2][3]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: New Hampshire Cons. Part II, Articles 16 and 34 and New Hampshire Rev. Stat. Ann. § 661:8


About the legislature

The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire State Senate with 24 members. The General Court is the fourth-largest English-speaking legislative body in the world, behind the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the United States Congress, and the Parliament of India, and has one of the greatest disparities in size between chambers of a bicameral legislature.[4] The General Court meets in the New Hampshire State House in Concord.

As of the November 2016 general election, New Hampshire was one of 25 Republican state government trifectas. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2016 elections. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

New Hampshire State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 10 14
     Republican Party 14 10
Total 24 24
New Hampshire House of Representatives
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 167 233
     Republican Party 212 167
     Independent 2 0
     Vacancy 19 0
Total 400 400

Special elections

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

March 10, 2020


Historical data

There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. New Hampshire held 28 special elections during the same time period; nearly three per year on average. The largest number of special elections in New Hampshire took place in 2017 when 10 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. ↑ State of New Hampshire, "State Constitution-House of Representatives," accessed February 10, 2021 (Sections 12 and 16)
  2. ↑ State of New Hampshire, "State Constitution-Senate," accessed February 10, 2021 (Section 34)
  3. ↑ New Hampshire General Court, "Title LXIII: Elections," accessed February 10, 2021 (Title LXIII, Chapter 661:8)
  4. ↑ New Hampshire Government Website, "State Government Overview," accessed June 9, 2014
  5. ↑ New Hampshire Union Leader, "Hooksett state Rep. Richard Marple remembered fondly," December 19, 2019
  6. ↑ Cremation Society of New Hampshire, "Obituary for Dick Marple," accessed December 18, 2019
  7. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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