Pennsylvania State Legislative Special Elections, 2017

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2017 State Legislative Special Elections
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In 2017, two special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

House special elections called:

• District 197: March 21
• District 133: December 5

How vacancies are filled in Pennsylvania[edit]

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]

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

About the legislature[edit]

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is Pennsylvania's state legislature, seated at the state's capital, Harrisburg. It has been a bicameral legislature since 1790. The General Assembly consists of an upper house, the Pennsylvania State Senate, and a lower house, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the November 2016 elections. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Special elections[edit]

March 21, 2017[edit]

☑ Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 197

PA House District 197 See also: Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2017 A special election for the position of Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 197 was called for March 21, 2017.[2] The seat became vacant following Leslie Acosta's (D) resignation on January 3, 2017. In late September 2016, it was revealed that Acosta had pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, a federal felony, in March 2016.[3][2] Lucinda Little (R) was the only eligible candidate filed for the district. Democrat Freddie Ramirez was removed from the ballot via residency challenge. Democratic Party officials then nominated Emilio Vazquez, but did so past the filing deadline. Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey rejected efforts to see Vazquez added to the ballot. Green Party candidate Cheri Honkala was also denied a spot on the ballot after her nomination was submitted a day past the deadline.[4][5][6] Honkala and Vazquez both pursued write-in campaigns.[7] On March 24, 2017, the Philadelphia Election Board tallied the write-in votes and found that Vazquez had won the special election.[8] District 197, which includes most of North Philadelphia, had an 85 percent Democratic constituency at the time of the election.[9] The 2012 election was the most recent election in which two major party candidates faced off in the district prior to 2017. The Democratic candidate won that election with 95 percent of the vote. In 2016, Acosta ran unopposed. Heading into the special election, Republicans controlled 121 seats in the 203-member state House. The special election, therefore, had no chance of shifting the chamber's balance of political power. Republicans, at the time, had a 34-16 majority in the state Senate, while the governorship was held by Democrat Tom Wolf, making Pennsylvania one of 19 states under divided government. Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 197, Special Election, 2017 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Emilio Vazquez (Write-in) 73.2% 1,972      Green Cheri Honkala (Write-in) 10.6% 286      Republican Lucinda Little 7.5% 201      Write-in Write-in (Scattered) 8.7% 235 Total Votes 2,694 March 21 special election candidates: Lucinda Little Emilio Vazquez (Write-in)

December 5, 2017[edit]

☑ Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 133

PA House District 133 See also: Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2017 A special election for the position of Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 133 was called for December 5, 2017.[10] The seat became vacant after Daniel McNeill (D) passed away on September 8, 2017.[11] Jeanne McNeill (D) defeated David Molony (R) and Samantha Dorney (L) in the general election.[12] Candidates running in the election were selected by their respective political parties. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party picked Daniel McNeill's widow, Jeanne, to run in the special election. Molony, who had previously challenged Daniel McNeill, was selected by the Lehigh County Republican Committee.[10] Dorney ran as a Libertarian candidate.[13] Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 133, Special Election, 2017 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Jeanne McNeill 67.4% 2,302      Republican David Molony 29.1% 992      Libertarian Samantha Dorney 3.5% 120 Total Votes 3,414 December 5 special election candidates: Jeanne McNeill David Molony Samantha Dorney

Special elections throughout the country[edit]

See also: State legislative special elections, 2017

Between 2011 and 2016, an average of 70 special elections took place each year. A total of 25 states use special elections to fill legislative vacancies. In two other states—Illinois and Indiana—special elections are used in limited circumstances. The rest of the states fill vacancies either through appointments made by the governor of the state or by a commission made up of officials from the former member's party. In 2017, 98 state legislative seats were filled through special elections.

Breakdown of 2017 special elections[edit]

In 2017, special elections for state legislative positions were held for a variety of reasons:

• 46 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
• 1 due to an ineligible general election candidate
• 15 due to the incumbent accepting another job
• 22 due to a retirement
• 15 due to a death

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

• 46 Democratic seats
• 53 Republican seats

Impact of special elections on partisan composition[edit]

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election. 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. It is not typical to see significant net changes in overall state legislative party composition because of special elections. In elections between 2011 and 2016, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of three seats across the country, although actual races won and lost by each party varied more. For instance, in 2015, Democrats lost nine seats to Republicans but won six different seats in other races, resulting in a net loss of three seats.

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

Flipped seats[edit]

In total, 17 state legislative seats flipped party control in 2017. Democrats flipped 14 seats and Republicans flipped three seats as a result of special state legislative elections in 2017.

Seats flipped from D to R[edit]

• Louisiana House of Representatives District 42 (March 25)
• Mississippi State Senate District 10 (November 28)
• Massachusetts State Senate Worcester & Middlesex District (December 5)

Seats flipped from R to D[edit]

• New Hampshire House of Representatives District Carroll 6 (May 23)
• New York State Assembly District 9 (May 23)
• Oklahoma State Senate District 44 (July 11)
• Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 (July 11)
• New Hampshire House of Representatives District Belknap 9 (September 12)
• Oklahoma House of Representatives District 46 (September 12)
• New Hampshire House of Representatives District Rockingham 4 (September 26)
• Florida State Senate District 40 (September 26)
• New Hampshire House of Representatives District Hillsborough 15 (November 7)
• Georgia House of Representatives District 117 (November 7)
• Georgia House of Representatives District 119 (November 7)
• Washington State Senate District 45 (November 7)
• Oklahoma State Senate District 37 (November 14)
• Georgia State Senate District 6 (December 5)

See also[edit]

• State legislative special elections, 2017
• State legislative special elections, 2016
• State legislative special elections, 2015
• Pennsylvania General Assembly

Footnotes[edit]

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