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three special elections was called to fill vacant seats in theMassachusetts General Court in 2023.Click here to read more about the special elections.

House special elections called:

• Ninth Suffolk District: May 30
• Tenth Suffolk District: May 30

Senate special elections called:

• Worcester & Hampshire District: November 7

How vacancies are filled in Massachusetts

See also:How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in theMassachusetts General Court, a special election must be conducted to fill the vacant seat. The election must be held on the next regularly scheduled date on the election calendar.^[1] Local governments that conduct special elections can receive reimbursement from the state treasurer's office for costs incurred.^[2][3]

See sources:Massachusetts Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 54, § 141 andMassachusetts Const. Amend. Art. 24

About the legislature

TheMassachusetts General Court is abicameral body composed of theMassachusetts State Senate, with 40 members, and theMassachusetts House of Representatives, with 160 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, seehere (Senate) andhere (House).

Special elections

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

May 30, 2023

Massachusetts House of Representatives Ninth Suffolk District

See also:Massachusetts state legislative special elections, 2023 A special election forMassachusetts House of RepresentativesNinth Suffolk District was called for May 30, 2023. A special primary election was held on May 2, 2023. The candidate filing deadline was March 21, 2023.[4] The seat became vacant afterJon Santiago (D) resigned from theMassachusetts House of Representatives to accept a job in the gubernatorial administration of Gov.Maura Healey (D).[5] General election Special general election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Suffolk District John Moran won election in the special general election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Suffolk District on May 30, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ John Moran (D)    97.7   1,356   Other/Write-in votes   2.3   32 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 1,388 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. Democratic primary election Special Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Suffolk District John Moran defeatedAmparo Ortiz in the special Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Suffolk District on May 2, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ John Moran    85.4   1,758 Submit photo Amparo Ortiz   13.6   280   Other/Write-in votes   1.0   20 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 2,058 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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.

Massachusetts House of Representatives Tenth Suffolk District

See also:Massachusetts state legislative special elections, 2023 A special election forMassachusetts House of RepresentativesTenth Suffolk District was called for May 30, 2023. A special primary election was held on May 2, 2023. The candidate filing deadline was March 21, 2023.[6] The seat became vacant afterEdward Coppinger (D) resigned from theMassachusetts House of Representatives on February 28, 2023 to accept a job with MassBio.[7] General election Special general election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 10th Suffolk District Bill MacGregor defeatedRobert Orthman in the special general election for Massachusetts House of Representatives 10th Suffolk District on May 30, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Bill MacGregor (D)   93.1   2,579 Submit photo Robert Orthman (D) (Write-in)   3.6   99   Other/Write-in votes   3.4   93 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 2,771 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. Democratic primary election Special Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 10th Suffolk District Bill MacGregor defeatedRobert Orthman andCelia Segel in the special Democratic primary for Massachusetts House of Representatives 10th Suffolk District on May 2, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Bill MacGregor   43.6   3,261 Submit photo Robert Orthman   31.9   2,391 Submit photo Celia Segel   24.2   1,813   Other/Write-in votes   0.3   20 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 7,485 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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

Massachusetts State Senate Worcester & Hampshire District

See also:Massachusetts state legislative special elections, 2023 A special election forMassachusetts State SenateWorcester & Hampshire District was called for November 7, 2023. A primary took place on October 10, 2023. The candidate filing deadline was August 29, 2023.[8] The seat became vacant afterAnne Gobi (D) resigned on June 4, 2023 to serve as Massachusetts Director of Rural Affairs.[9] General election Special general election for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District Peter Durant defeatedJonathan Zlotnik in the special general election for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District on November 7, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Peter Durant (R)   54.5   12,646 Jonathan Zlotnik (D)   45.4   10,546   Other/Write-in votes   0.1   30 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 23,222 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. Democratic primary election Special Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District Jonathan Zlotnik advanced from the special Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District on October 10, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Jonathan Zlotnik   100.0   2,793 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 2,793 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. Republican primary election Special Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District Peter Durant defeatedBruce Chester in the special Republican primary for Massachusetts State Senate Worcester and Hampshire District on October 10, 2023. Candidate % Votes ✔ Peter Durant   60.6   2,830 Bruce Chester   39.4   1,840 There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 4,670 = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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

There were 902 state legislative special elections that took place from 2010 to 2022. Massachusetts held 48 special elections during the same time period. About four special elections were held each year on average. The largest number of special elections in Massachusetts took place in2013 when eight 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, 2023

In 2023, 53state 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

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

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

• 33Democratic seats
• 20Republican 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.

Flipped seats

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

Seats flipped from D to R

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

Seats flipped from R to D

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

See also

• State legislative special elections, 2023
• State legislative special elections, 2022
• State legislative special elections, 2021
• State legislative special elections, 2020
• State legislative special elections, 2019
• State legislative special elections, 2018
• State legislative special elections, 2017
• State legislative special elections, 2016
• Massachusetts General Court

Footnotes

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