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There were four special elections in 2011 to fill vacant seats in theUnited States House of Representatives.
Two seats switched parties, swapping from Republican to Democratic, and two other seats were held by the same parties.
Elections are listed by date and district.
| District | Incumbent | This race | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Party | First elected | Results | Candidates | |
| New York 26 | Chris Lee | Republican | 2008 | Incumbent resigned February 9, 2011 due to a personal scandal.[1] New memberelected May 24, 2011.[2] Democratic gain. |
|
| California 36 | Jane Harman | Democratic | 2000 | Incumbent resigned February 28, 2011 to become head of theWilson Center.[3] New memberelected July 12, 2011. Democratic hold. |
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| Nevada 2 | Dean Heller | Republican | 2006 | Incumbent resigned May 9, 2011 to join theU.S. Senate.[4] New memberelected September 13, 2011.[5] Republican hold. |
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| New York 9 | Anthony Weiner | Democratic | 1998 | Incumbent resigned June 21, 2011 due topersonal scandals.[6] New memberelected September 13, 2011.[7] Republican gain. |
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Incumbent representativeChris Lee resigned on February 9, 2011, after a scandal erupted over him soliciting a woman onCraigslist. The special election was held on May 24, 2011. In an upset victory, DemocratKathy Hochul narrowly beat Republican AssemblywomanJane Corwin with 47% of the vote.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kathy Hochul | 47,519 | 42.68 | |
| Working Families | Kathy Hochul | 5,194 | 4.66 | |
| Total | Kathy Hochul | 52,713 | 47.34 | |
| Republican | Jane Corwin | 35,721 | 32.08 | |
| Conservative | Jane Corwin | 9,090 | 8.16 | |
| Independence | Jane Corwin | 2,376 | 2.13 | |
| Total | Jane Corwin | 47,187 | 42.38 | |
| Tea Party | Jack Davis | 10,029 | 9.01 | |
| Green | Ian Murphy | 1,177 | 1.06 | |
| Write-in | 232 | 0.21 | ||
| Total votes | 111,338 | 100.00 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
Jane Harman resigned on February 28, 2011, to become head of theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.[3] The special primary election occurred on May 17, 2011. DemocratJanice Hahn received the highest number of votes, with Republican Craig Huey taking second place. Because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, a special general election was held on July 12, 2011, between the top two vote recipients. The runoff election was won by Janice Hahn.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Janice Hahn | 47,000 | 54.89 | |
| Republican | Craig Huey | 38,624 | 45.11 | |
| Total votes | 85,624 | 100.00 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
Incumbent representativeDean Heller resigned after being appointed to theUnited States Senate following the resignation ofJohn Ensign.
RepublicanMark Amodei won the election with 58% of the vote to DemocratKate Marshall's 36%.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Amodei | 75,180 | 57.92 | |
| Democratic | Kate Marshall | 46,818 | 36.07 | |
| Independent | Helmuth Lehmann | 5,372 | 4.14 | |
| Independent American | Timothy Fasano | 2,421 | 1.87 | |
| Total votes | 129,791 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
Incumbent representativeAnthony Weiner resigned on June 21, 2011, followinga series of sexting scandals.
The special election was held on September 13, 2011. Despite the district being heavily Democratic, Republican businessmanBob Turner narrowly won against Democratic AssemblymanDavid Weprin by under 4,000 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Turner | 32,526 | 45.05 | |||
| Conservative | Bob Turner | 4,816 | 6.67 | |||
| Total | Bob Turner | 37,342 | 51.72 | |||
| Democratic | David Weprin | 31,285 | 43.33 | |||
| Working Families | David Weprin | 1,425 | 1.97 | |||
| Independence | David Weprin | 946 | 1.31 | |||
| Total | David Weprin | 33,656 | 46.62 | |||
| Socialist Workers | Chris Hoeppner | 143 | 0.20 | |||
| Total votes | 72,197 | 100.00 | ||||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | ||||||
