Rhode Island State Legislative Special Elections, 2019

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In 2019, one special election were called to fill a vacant seat in the Rhode Island General Assembly. Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

• District 68: March 5

How vacancies are filled in Rhode Island[edit]

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in the Rhode Island General Assembly, a special election must be held to fill the vacant seat. The secretary of state must call for an election to be held anywhere from 70 to 90 days after the vacancy occurred. No election can be held if the vacancy happens after the first Monday in February during an election year.^[1] The person elected to fill the seat serves for the remainder of the unfilled term.^[2]

See sources: Rhode Island Gen. Laws § 17-3-6

About the legislature[edit]

The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is a bicameral body composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island State Senate with 38 senators. Members are elected in the general election immediately preceding the beginning of the term or in special elections called to fill vacancies. 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).

Special elections[edit]

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

March 5, 2019[edit]

Rhode Island House of Representatives District 68

See also: Rhode Island state legislative special elections, 2019 A special election for District 68 of the Rhode Island House of Representatives was held on March 5, 2019. A primary took place on February 5, 2019. The filing deadline for candidates was December 28, 2018.[3] The special election was called after Representative-elect Laufton Ascencao (D) announced that he would not take the oath of office because he had lied to local Democratic town committee members about producing a six-page mailer.[4] He also produced a fake expenses invoice for the mailer and sent it to the committee members. When he announced his decision not to take office, Ascencao said the brochure was completed but not in time for it to be published and mailed prior to the election, so there were no actual expenses incurred for it.[5] Entering the special election, Kenneth Marshall held the District 68 seat as a Democratic member. He was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2014 and 2016; he did not run for re-election in 2018 after acknowledging in July 2018 that he had not reported more than $10,000 in campaign contributions. However, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea (D) decided in December 2018 that Marshall's term would be extended until the special election had passed.[6] General election The primary occurred on February 5, 2019. The general election will occur on March 5, 2019. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary. Special general election for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 68 June Speakman defeated William Hunt Jr., incumbent Kenneth Marshall, and James McCanna III in the special general election for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 68 on March 5, 2019. Candidate % Votes ✔ June Speakman (D)   39.8   864 William Hunt Jr. (L)   28.4   615 Kenneth Marshall (Independent)   23.6   512 James McCanna III (Independent)   8.1   176   Other/Write-in votes   0.1   2 Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2 Total votes: 2,169 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Democratic primary election Special Democratic primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 68 June Speakman defeated Richard Ruggerio in the special Democratic primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 68 on February 5, 2019. Candidate % Votes ✔ June Speakman   72.2   1,220 Richard Ruggerio   27.8   469 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 1,689 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates John Hanley (D) Independent primary election No Independent candidates ran in the primary. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Nicky Ann Tyska (Independent)

Special elections throughout the country[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

• 39 Democratic seats
• 38 Republican seats

As of March 7, 2022, Republicans controlled 54.40% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.29%. Republicans held a majority in 62 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 36 chambers. One chamber (Alaska House) was organized under a multipartisan, power-sharing coalition.^[7]

Partisan balance of all 7,383 state legislative seats
Legislative chamber			Other	Vacant
State senates	863	1,096	8	3
State houses	2,414	2,915	33	49
Total:	3,277	4,011	41	52

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.

Flipped seats[edit]

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

Seats flipped from D to R[edit]

• Minnesota State Senate District 11 (February 5)
• Connecticut State Senate District 6 (February 26)
• Connecticut House of Representatives District 99 (February 26)
• Kentucky State Senate District 31 (March 5)
• New Jersey State Senate District 1 (November 5)

Seats flipped from R to D[edit]

• Pennsylvania State Senate District 37 (April 2)
• Missouri House of Representatives District 99 (November 5)

Seats flipped from R to I[edit]

• Louisiana House of Representatives District 62 (March 30)

State profile[edit]

See also: Rhode Island and Rhode Island elections, 2019

Partisan data[edit]

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

Presidential voting pattern

• Rhode Island voted for the Democratic candidate in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Congressional delegation

• Following the 2018 elections, both U.S. Senators from Rhode Island were Democrats.
• Both of Rhode Island's U.S. Representatives were Democrats.

State executives

• Democrats held five of Rhode Island's 14 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
• Rhode Island's governor was Democrat Gina Raimondo.

State legislature

• Democrats controlled the Rhode Island State Senate with a 33-5 majority.
• Democrats controlled the Rhode Island House of Representatives with a 66-9 majority.

See also[edit]

• State legislative special elections, 2019
• State legislative special elections, 2018
• State legislative special elections, 2017
• State legislative special elections, 2016
• State legislative special elections, 2015
• Rhode Island State Legislature

Footnotes[edit]

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