Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2019

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In 2019, seven special elections were 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:

The April 2 special election for Senate District 37 between Democrat Pam Iovino and Republican D. Raja picked up attention from Politics PA as a potentially competitive race.[1] Heading into the election, the seat had a history of partisan change. Following the retirement of the district's longtime Republican senator, John Pippy, in 2012, Democrat Matthew Smith won the district by 5 percentage points. After Smith retired in 2015, the seat was held by Guy Reschenthaler (R), who left office after being elected to the U.S. House in November 2018, setting up the April 2 special election. Heading into the election, Republicans held a 26-21 majority in the state Senate, with three vacancies. The three vacancies were in seats previously held by Republicans. Read more below.

How vacancies are filled in Pennsylvania

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


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.[2]

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


About the legislature

The Pennsylvania General Assembly consists of the lower House of Representatives and the upper State Senate. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2018 general election. 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 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 16 21
     Republican Party 33 29
     Vacancy 1 0
Total 50 50
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 79 93
     Republican Party 120 110
     Vacancy 4 0
Total 203 203

Special elections

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

March 12, 2019

April 2, 2019


May 21, 2019

August 20, 2019

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2019

In 2019, 77 state legislative special elections were held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2019 special elections

In 2019, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 47 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 21 due to a retirement
  • 6 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 1 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 2 due to an election being rerun

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

As of December 3rd, 2024, Republicans controlled 55.08% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.02%. 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 835 1,119 3 16
State houses 2,416 2,949 19 29
Total: 3,251

4,068

22

45


The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2019. 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 2018, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country. Between 2017 and 2018, Democrats had a net gain of 19 seats.

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

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2019)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 39 36
     Republican Party 38 40
     Independent 0 1
Total 77 77

Flipped seats

In 2019, eight seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from R to I

State profile

See also: Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania elections, 2019
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg

Partisan data

The information in this section was current as of May 7, 2019

Presidential voting pattern

Congressional delegation

State executives

  • Democrats held six of Pennsylvania's 16 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
  • Pennsylvania's governor was Democrat Tom Wolf.

State legislature

Pennsylvania Party Control: 1992-2024
One year of a Democratic trifecta  •  Twelve years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Governor D D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D D D
Senate R D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R D D

Pennsylvania quick stats
  • Became a state in 1787
  • 2nd state admitted to the United States
  • The United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were both drafted in Pennsylvania.
  • Members of the Pennsylvania State Senate: 50
  • Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives: 203
  • U.S. senators: 2
  • U.S. representatives: 18
More Pennsylvania coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for Pennsylvania
 PennsylvaniaU.S.
Total population:12,791,904316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):44,7433,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:81.6%73.6%
Black/African American:11%12.6%
Asian:3.1%5.1%
Native American:0.2%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:2.1%3%
Hispanic/Latino:6.4%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:89.2%86.7%
College graduation rate:28.6%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$53,599$53,889
Persons below poverty level:15.9%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Pennsylvania.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Politics PA, "SD37: Iovino and Raja Balance Moderate Message with Turning Out the Base," April 1, 2019
  2. ↑ State of Pennsylvania, "Pennsylvania Constitution," accessed February 15, 2021 (Article II, Section 2)
  3. ↑ PA State Rep. Mike Turzai, "Speaker Announces March 12 Special Elections for the 114th and 190th Legislative Districts in Lackawanna, Philadelphia Counties," January 2, 2019
  4. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "UNOFFICIAL LIST OF CANDIDATES: SPECIAL ELECTION REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY," accessed January 25, 2019
  5. ↑ WNEP.com, "Hundreds Attend Viewing for Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich," October 21, 2018
  6. ↑ PA State Rep. Mike Turzai, "Speaker Announces March 12 Special Elections for the 114th and 190th Legislative Districts in Lackawanna, Philadelphia Counties," January 2, 2019
  7. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "UNOFFICIAL LIST OF CANDIDATES: SPECIAL ELECTION REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY," accessed January 25, 2019
  8. ↑ The Philadelphia Tribune, "State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown resigns 'under protest,'" December 11, 2018
  9. ↑ The Philadelphia Tribune, "State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown convicted of bribery," October 31, 2018
  10. ↑ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Special election set for April 2 to fill Pa. Senate seat left vacant by Guy Reschenthaler," January 5, 2019
  11. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," accessed April 1, 2019
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Penn Live, "Special election dates set to fill two open seats in the Pennsylvania Senate," March 8, 2019
  13. ↑ Penn Live, "House GOP leaders call on Rep. Brian Ellis to resign after sexual assault allegation," January 25, 2019
  14. ↑ Penn Live, "Special election to fill open Pa. House seat set for Aug. 20," May 28, 2019
  15. ↑ The Daily Item, "UPDATE: Rowe says Valley GOP must unite to 'keep the district in Republican hands'," June 13, 2019
  16. ↑ The Daily Item, "Rager-Kay says Dems can win special election if they 'work together'," June 21, 2019
  17. ↑ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Keller resigns state House seat, clearing way to Congress," May 24, 2019
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