Oklahoma state legislative special elections, 2023

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2023 State Legislative
Special Elections

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In 2023, one special election was called to fill a vacant seat in the Oklahoma State Legislature.

Click here to read more about the special election.

Senate special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Oklahoma


If there is a vacancy in the Oklahoma State Legislature, the governor must call a special election no later than 30 days after the vacancy occurs. No special election can be called if the vacancy occurs in an even-numbered year and if the term of office will expire in that year. This second provision allows special elections to be held for outgoing senators with two or more years left in their terms.[1]

If a senator announces his or her resignation before March 1 but the effective date lies between the general election and the new session, a special election can be held on the general election dates. The winner of this election will take office upon the senator's official resignation. This only applies to senators with two or more years remaining in their terms.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Oklahoma Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 12-106


About the legislature

The Oklahoma State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, with 101 members, and the Oklahoma State Senate, with 48 members.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2023. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).


Oklahoma State Senate
Party As of November 8, 2022 After November 9, 2022
     Democratic Party 9 8
     Republican Party 39 40
Total 48 48


Oklahoma House of Representatives
Party As of November 8, 2022 After November 9, 2022
     Democratic Party 18 20
     Republican Party 82 81
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 101 101

Special elections

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

December 12, 2023

Historical data

There were 902 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2022. Oklahoma held 21 special elections during the same time period; nearly two per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Oklahoma took place in 2017 when seven 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, 2023

In 2023, 53 state legislative special elections were scheduled in 21 states. Between 2011 and 2022, an average of 68 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2023 special elections

In 2023, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 10 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 32 due to resignation
  • 9 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 2 due to removal from office

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

As of December 1st, 2024, Republicans controlled 55% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.12%. Republicans held a majority in 56 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 41 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions.

Partisan balance of all 7,386 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber Democratic Party Republican Party Grey.png Other Vacant
State senates 837 1,117 3 16
State houses 2,421 2,944 19 29
Total: 3,258

4,061

22

45


The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2023. 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 (2023)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 33 33
     Republican Party 20 20
     Independent 0 0
Total 53 53

Flipped seats

In 2023, four 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