Tennessee state legislative special elections, 2019

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2019 State Legislative
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In 2019, three special elections was called to fill vacant seats in the Tennessee State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Tennessee

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures


If there is a vacancy in the Tennessee General Assembly, there are two ways a vacancy can be filled. When twelve months or more remain before the next general election, a special election must be held within the allowable time frame set by law. If fewer than twelve months remain before the next general election, members of the legislative body in the county where the vacancy occurred must vote on a replacement.[1]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Tennessee Const. Art. 2, Sec. 15


About the legislature

The Tennessee General Assembly consists of the Tennessee State Senate and the Tennessee House of Representatives. 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).

Tennessee State Senate
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 4 5
     Republican Party 26 28
     Vacancy 3 0
Total 33 33
Tennessee House of Representatives
Party As of November 6, 2018 After November 7, 2018
     Democratic Party 25 26
     Republican Party 69 73
     Vacancy 5 0
Total 99 99

Special elections

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

March 12, 2019

April 23, 2019

December 19, 2019

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The following state legislative candidates responded to Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click candidate names to read their answers.

Tennessee State Senate District 22

Special elections throughout the country

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

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

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

As of December 11th, 2024, Republicans controlled 55.46% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 43.62%. 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 829 1,122 3 19
State houses 2,393 2,974 19 27
Total: 3,222

4,096

22

46


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.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2019)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 39 36
     Republican Party 38 40
     Independent 0 1
Total 77 77

Flipped seats

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

Seats flipped from D to R

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from R to I

State profile

See also: Tennessee and Tennessee elections, 2019
USA Tennessee location map.svg

Partisan data

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

Presidential voting pattern

  • Tennessee voted Republican in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Congressional delegation

State executives

  • Republicans held six of Tennessee's 18 state executive offices. Elections for the other offices are nonpartisan.
  • Tennessee's governor was Republican Bill Lee.

State legislature

Tennessee Party Control: 1992-2024
Five years of Democratic trifectas  •  Fourteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor D D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D R D D D D D D D D R R S S R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Tennessee quick stats

More Tennessee coverage on Ballotpedia:


Demographic data for Tennessee
 TennesseeU.S.
Total population:6,595,056316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):41,2353,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:77.8%73.6%
Black/African American:16.8%12.6%
Asian:1.6%5.1%
Native American:0.3%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.1%0.2%
Two or more:2%3%
Hispanic/Latino:4.9%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:85.5%86.7%
College graduation rate:24.9%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$45,219$53,889
Persons below poverty level:21.4%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Tennessee.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

See also

Footnotes