Virginia state legislative special elections, 2023

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In 2023, five special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Virginia State Legislature.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

Senate special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Virginia


If there is a vacancy in the Virginia General Assembly, a special election must be conducted to fill the vacant seat. If the vacancy occurs while the legislature is in session, the presiding officer of the house in which the vacancy happens must call for a special election. If the vacancy occurs while the legislature is in recess, the governor shall call the special election. Within 30 days of a vacancy, the appropriate officeholder shall issue a writ of election. If an vacancy occurs between December 10 and March 1, the writ must declare the special election date be within 30 days of said vacancy. All special elections must be held promptly. However, no special election can be held if it occurs less than 55 days before any statewide primary or general election or if there are fewer than 75 days remaining in the vacated term.[1][2]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Virginia Code § 24.2-216


About the legislature

The Virginia General Assembly is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Virginia State Senate, with 40 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).

Virginia State Senate
Party As of November 5, 2019 After November 6, 2019
     Democratic Party 19 21
     Republican Party 20 19
     Vacancies 1 0
Total 40 40
Virginia House of Delegates
Party As of November 2, 2021 After November 3, 2021
     Democratic Party 55 48
     Republican Party 45 52
Total 100 100

Special elections

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

January 10, 2023

March 28, 2023

August 29, 2023

Historical data

There were 902 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2022. Virginia held 39 special elections during the same time period; about three per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Virginia took place in 2014 when nine 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 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 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

  1. ↑ Virginia Law Library, "§ 24.2-216. Filling vacancies in the General Assembly," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 24.2-216, Virginia Code)
  2. ↑ Virginia Law Library, "§ 24.2-682. Times for special elections," accessed February 16, 2021
  3. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Writs of Election," accessed December 21, 2022
  4. ↑ Twitter, "Kathryn Young," accessed December 15, 2022
  5. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "How to Run for House of Delegates, 35th District - Ballot Access Requirements for the January 10, 2023 Special Election," September 8, 2022
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Washington Post, "Mark Keam, longtime Democratic Virginia delegate, resigns," September 6, 2022 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "resignation" defined multiple times with different content
  7. ↑ Commonwealth of Virginia Executive Department, "Governor Writ," November 15, 2022
  8. ↑ WRIC, "Special election to fill Kiggans’ Virginia Senate seat set for Jan. 10," November 15, 2022
  9. ↑ Senate of Virginia, "Writ Ordering Special Election," February 22, 2023
  10. ↑ The New York Times, "McClellan Wins in Virginia and Will Be State’s First Black Woman in Congress," February 21, 2023
  11. ↑ Commonwealth of Virginia Executive Department, "Writ for Special Election - HD 6 District," August 4, 2023
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