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Kentucky state legislative special elections, 2024

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2025
2023
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2024 State Legislative
Special Elections

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In 2024, two special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Kentucky State Legislature.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

House of Representatives special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Kentucky


If there is a vacancy in the Kentucky General Assembly, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. The governor must call for an election if the General Assembly is not in session. The presiding officer in the house where the vacancy happened must call for an election if lawmakers are in session.[1] All nominating petitions must be filed at least 56 days before the election.[2]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Kentucky Rev. Stat. § 118.730-§118.770


About the legislature

The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of Kentucky. It is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the upper Kentucky State Senate and the lower Kentucky House of Representatives.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2024. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Kentucky State Senate
Party As of November 8, 2022 After November 9, 2022
     Democratic Party 8 7
     Republican Party 29 31
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 38 38
Kentucky House of Representatives
Party As of November 8, 2022 After November 9, 2022
     Democratic Party 25 20
     Republican Party 75 80
Total 100 100

Special elections

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

March 19, 2024

Historical data

There were 955 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2023. Kentucky held 30 special elections during the same time period; about two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Kentucky took place in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2020 when four 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, 2024

In 2024, 52 state legislative special elections were scheduled for 2024 in 22 states. Between 2011 and 2023, an average of 71 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2024 special elections

In 2024, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 31 due to resignation
  • 11 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 4 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 6 due to redistricting


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 2024. 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 were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2024)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 26 29
     Republican Party 26 23
     Independent 0 0
Total 52 52

List of seats

In 2024, five seats changed party hands as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats that changed from D to R

Seats that changed from R to D



See also

Footnotes