Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2020

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In 2020, five special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2020. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

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.[1]

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:

January 14, 2020

February 25, 2020

March 17, 2020


Historical data

There were 723 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2019. Pennsylvania held 43 special elections during the same time period; the second-most of any state. About four special elections were held each year on average. 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, 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[6]
  • 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:

As of December 3rd, 2024, Republicans controlled 55.09% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.99%. 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 1,118 3 17
State houses 2,414 2,951 19 29
Total: 3,249

4,069

22

46


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 Pennsylvania, "Pennsylvania Constitution," accessed February 15, 2021 (Article II, Section 2)
  2. ↑ PoliticsPA, "Folmer Resigns After Being Charged With Possession of Child Pornography," September 18, 2019
  3. ↑ Politics PA, "State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell Charged With Stealing From Her Own Charity, Will Resign," December 4, 2019
  4. ↑ The Intelligencer, "Rep. DiGirolamo ‘bittersweet’ about leaving state office for county seat," January 3, 2020
  5. ↑ Trib Live, "Westmoreland County election winners sworn into office," December 26, 2019
  6. ↑ Arkansas State Rep. Mickey Gates (R) was expelled by a vote of the House membership.
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