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Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2025

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2025 State Legislative
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As of September, two special elections have been called to fill vacant seats in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

Ballotpedia covered the special election in District 35 as a battleground election. For more coverage on the election in District 35, click here.

At the time of the election, Pennsylvania had a divided government. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was a Democrat, while Republicans controlled the state Senate. Democrats controlled the state House after a House vacancy left it tied. To read more about the makeup of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, click here.

How vacancies are filled in Pennsylvania


If there is a vacancy in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. The presiding officer in the house where the vacancy happened must call for an election. There are no deadlines set in the state constitution on when a special election can be held.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Pennsylvania Cons. Art. II, §2


Special elections

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

March 25, 2025

About the legislature

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is Pennsylvania's state legislature, seated at the state's capital, Harrisburg. It has been a bicameral legislature since 1790. The General Assembly consists of an upper house, the Pennsylvania State Senate, and a lower house, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2025. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Pennsylvania State Senate
Party As of November 5, 2024 After November 6, 2024
     Democratic Party 22 22
     Republican Party 28 27
     Vacancy 0 1
Total 50 50


Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Party As of November 5, 2024 After November 6, 2024
     Democratic Party 102 101
     Republican Party 101 101
     Vacancy 0 1
Total 203 203

Historical control

Republicans won control of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1994. In 2024, they won a 28-22 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Pennsylvania Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Pennsylvania State Senate election results: 1992-2024

Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
Democrats 25 21 20 20 20 21 20 21 20 20 23 20 16 21 21 22 22
Republicans 25 29 30 30 30 29 30 29 29 30 27 30 34 29 29 28 28

Democrats won a 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2022, gaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2008. In 2024, Democrats maintained a 102-101 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Pennsylvania House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
Democrats 105 101 99 100 99 94 93 102 104 91 93 84 82 93 92 102 102
Republicans 98 102 104 103 104 109 110 101 99 112 110 119 121 110 111 101 101


Historical data

There were 1,007 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2024. Pennsylvania held 69 special elections during the same time period. The largest number of special elections in Pennsylvania took place in 2015 when eight 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, 2025

As of September 2025, 88 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2025 in 22 states. One special election has also been called to fill a vacancy in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Between 2011 and 2024, an average of 70 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2025 special elections

In 2025, special elections for state legislative positions are being held for the following reasons:

  • 35 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 25 due to resignation
  • 14 due to redistricting
  • 13 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to the officeholder leaving at term end


Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections is as follows:

As of September 18th, 2025, Republicans controlled 55.5% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.68%. Republicans held a majority in 57 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 39 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions. One chamber (Minnesota House of Representatives) was split evenly between both parties.

Partisan balance of all 7,386 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Grey.png Other Vacant
State senates 834 1,122 5 12
State houses 2,392 2,977 20 24
Total: 3,226

4,099

25

36


The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2025. 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.

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

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2025)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 48 26
     Republican Party 40 19
     Independent 0 1
Total 88 46

Flipped seats

In 2025, as of August 26, four seats have changed party hands as a result of state legislative special elections.


Seats that changed from D to I

Seats that changed from R to D



See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ State of Pennsylvania, "Pennsylvania Constitution," accessed February 15, 2021 (Article II, Section 2)
  2. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "Calendar for the Special Election to be Held March 25, 2025, Senator in the General Assembly for the 36th District in the County of Lancaster," accessed January 10, 2025
  3. ↑ YourErie "Sen. Ryan Aument to step down, take job with Senator-elect Dave McCormick" accessed January 2, 2025
  4. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "Calendar for the Special Election to be Held March 25, 2025, Representatives in the General Assembly for the 35th District in the County of Allegheny," accessed January 22, 2025
  5. ↑ CBS News, "Death of Democratic lawmaker leaves Pennsylvania House deadlocked at 101-101," accessed January 20, 2025
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