Maine State Legislative Special Elections, 2023

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

Click here to read more about the special election.

House special elections called:

• District 45: June 16
• District 50: November 7

How vacancies are filled in Maine[edit]

If there is a vacancy in the Maine State Legislature, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat.^[1][2] The governor must call for an election and inform political committees of the nomination deadline.^[3][1][2] The person elected to the seat serves for the remainder of the unexpired term.^[4]

See sources: Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, § 382 Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, §366 and Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, § 381

About the legislature[edit]

The Maine State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the Maine House of Representatives, with 151 members, and the Maine State Senate, with 35 members. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2022 general election. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Maine State Senate
Party		As of November 8, 2022	After November 9, 2022
	Democratic Party	22	22
	Republican Party	13	13
Total		35	35

Maine House of Representatives
Party		As of November 8, 2022	After November 9, 2022
	Democratic Party	77	82
	Republican Party	63	67
	Independent	2	1
	Independent for Maine Party	1	1
	Vacancy	8	0
Total		151	151

Special elections[edit]

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

June 13, 2023[edit]

Maine House of Representatives District 45

See also: Maine state legislative special elections, 2023 A special election for Maine House of Representatives District 45 was called for June 13, 2023. Political parties in Maine use caucuses to nominate candidates for special elections. Parties were required to submit nominations to the Secretary of State by March 31, 2023.[5] The seat became vacant after Clinton Collamore, Sr. (D) resigned in February 2023 after he was accused of forging signatures to qualify for election funds.[6] General election Special general election for Maine House of Representatives District 45 Abden Simmons defeated Wendy Pieh in the special general election for Maine House of Representatives District 45 on June 13, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Abden Simmons (R)   52.2   1,438 Wendy Pieh (D)   47.8   1,317 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 2,755 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

November 7, 2023[edit]

Maine House of Representatives District 50

See also: Maine state legislative special elections, 2023 A special election for Maine House of Representatives District 50 was called for November 7, 2023. Political parties in Maine use caucuses to nominate candidates for special elections. Parties were required to submit nominations to the Secretary of State by September 1, 2023. The filing deadline for write-in candidates was September 6, 2023.[7] The seat became vacant on July 14, 2023, when Sean Paulhus (D) resigned from the Maine House of Representatives after being appointed Sagadahoc County register of probate.[8] General election Special general election for Maine House of Representatives District 50 David Sinclair won election in the special general election for Maine House of Representatives District 50 on November 7, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ David Sinclair (D)   100.0   2,188 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 2,188 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Historical data[edit]

There were 902 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2022. Maine held 19 special elections during the same time period. The largest number of special elections in Maine took place in 2011 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[edit]

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 73 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2023 special elections[edit]

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[edit]

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

• 33 Democratic seats
• 20 Republican seats

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[edit]

In 2023, four seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections.

Seats flipped from D to R[edit]

• Maine House of Representatives District 45 (June 13)
• Massachusetts State Senate Worcester & Hampshire District (November 7)

Seats flipped from R to D[edit]

• Virginia State Senate District 7 (January 10)
• New Hampshire House of Representatives District Rockingham 1 (September 19)

See also[edit]

• State legislative special elections, 2023
• State legislative special elections, 2022
• State legislative special elections, 2021
• State legislative special elections, 2020
• Maine State Legislature

Footnotes[edit]

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