Texas state legislative special elections, 2021

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2021 State Legislative
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In 2021, three special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Texas State Legislature.

Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Texas


If there is a vacancy in the Texas State Legislature, the governor must call a special election to fill the vacant seat.[1] A governor's proclamation to hold a special election must be delivered to county judges in the legislative district no later than 36 days before the scheduled election.[2]

The secretary of state can declare a candidate duly elected in a special election if there is no opposition.[3]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Texas Elec. Code § 203.001 et. seq.


About the legislature

The Texas State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the Texas House of Representatives, with 150 members, and the Texas State Senate, with 31 members.

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2021. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Texas State Senate
Party As of November 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 12 13
     Republican Party 19 18
Total 31 31


Texas House of Representatives
Party As of November 3, 2020 After November 4, 2020
     Democratic Party 67 67
     Republican Party 83 83
Total 150 150

Special elections

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

January 23, 2021

August 31, 2021

September 28, 2021

Historical data

There were 782 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2020. Texas held 33 special elections during the same time period; about three per year on average. The largest number of special elections in Texas took place in 2019 when six 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, 2021

In 2021, 66 state legislative special elections were held in 21 states. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2021 special elections

In 2021, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 27 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 23 due to resignation
  • 4 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 12 due to the death of the incumbent

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2021. 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 2020, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of four seats across the country.

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

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2021)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 33 33
     Republican Party 33 33
     Independent 0 0
Total 66 66

Flipped seats

In 2021, six 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. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3))
  2. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3)(b)-(c))
  3. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 2.055)
  4. ↑ Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Governor Abbott Sets Special Election For Texas House District 68," accessed December 29, 2020
  5. ↑ Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Governor Abbott Sets Date For Special Runoff Election In House District 68," accessed February 4, 2021
  6. ↑ Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Governor Abbott Sets Date For Special Runoff Election In House District 10," accessed September 15, 2021
  7. ↑ Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Governor Abbott Sets Special Election For Texas House District 10," August 6, 2021
  8. ↑ 'Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott, "Governor Abbott Sets Date for Special Runoff Election In Texas House District 118," October 11, 2021
  9. ↑ San Antonio Current, "Special Texas House election set for late September to replace San Antonio Rep. Leo Pacheco," September 9, 2021
  10. ↑ Texas Public Radio, "San Antonio Democrat Leo Pacheco Reportedly Plans To Resign From Texas House Before 2nd Term Ends," August 9, 2021
  11. ↑ Ballotpedia Staff, "Phone call with Clerk Robert Haney," August 19, 2021
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