Most Dramatic Special Elections Ever

Alabama Senate Special Election (2017)

Doug Jones became the first Democrat to win an Alabama Senate seat in 25 years after allegations of misconduct against Roy Moore blew up the race weeks before voting. The win, powered by overwhelming Black turnout, briefly shrank the GOP's Senate majority to one seat. Few special

Year: 2017Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (Alabama)Margin of Victory: 1.5 %Total Spending: 51 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 10/10

added by IJR

Georgia Senate Special Runoff (2021)

Raphael Warnock's runoff win over appointed incumbent Kelly Loeffler, held alongside the Ossoff-Perdue race, decided control of the entire U.S. Senate in the first weeks of a new presidency. Georgia became a $500M battleground overnight, and Warnock's victory made him the state's

Year: 2021Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (Georgia, special)Margin of Victory: 2 %Total Spending: 180 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9.5/10

added by IJR

Missouri Senate Election (2000)

Governor Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash three weeks before Election Day, yet his name stayed on the ballot and he 'defeated' incumbent Senator John Ashcroft posthumously. His widow Jean Carnahan was appointed to serve the term, an outcome so strange it remains one of the eeri

Year: 2000Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (Missouri)Margin of Victory: 2 %Total Spending: 15 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 10/10

added by IJR

Massachusetts Senate Special Election (2010)

Republican Scott Brown's upset win for the seat Ted Kennedy held for 47 years shattered the Democrats' filibuster-proof Senate majority and reshaped the fight over the Affordable Care Act. Brown's pickup truck ads and grassroots surge turned an assumed formality into a national e

Year: 2010Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (Massachusetts)Margin of Victory: 5.2 %Total Spending: 50 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9.5/10

added by IJR

Alaska At-Large Special Election (2022)

After 49-year incumbent Don Young died in office, Alaska's first-ever ranked-choice special election came down to a final round between Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, and Mary Peltola. Peltola's win made her the first Alaska Native in Congress and the first Democrat to hold the seat i

Year: 2022Seat/Office: U.S. House (Alaska, At-Large)Margin of Victory: 3 %Total Spending: 15 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9.5/10

added by IJR

Georgia 6th Congressional District Special Election (2017)

Jon Ossoff's near-miss against Karen Handel became the most expensive House race in American history at the time, a proxy war over the newly inaugurated Trump administration. Handel's narrow hold kept the suburban Atlanta seat red, but the sheer scale of national money and attent

Year: 2017Seat/Office: U.S. House (Georgia-6)Margin of Victory: 3.6 %Total Spending: 55 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9/10

added by IJR

Pennsylvania Senate Special Election (1991)

Harris Wofford trailed former Governor Dick Thornburgh by over 40 points but stormed back to win on a message about jobs and health care, a shock result widely credited with foreshadowing Bill Clinton's 1992 platform. It remains one of the greatest polling-defying comebacks in sp

Year: 1991Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (Pennsylvania)Margin of Victory: 10 %Total Spending: 6 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9/10

added by IJR

Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District Special Election (2018)

Conor Lamb's razor-thin win in a district Trump had carried by nearly 20 points was one of the closest and most closely watched House specials of the Trump era. The race hinged on a few hundred votes and became an instant bellwether for the 2018 midterms. Lamb's win in coal-and-s

Year: 2018Seat/Office: U.S. House (Pennsylvania-18)Margin of Victory: 0.3 %Total Spending: 14 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 9/10

added by IJR

New York 23rd Congressional District Special Election (2009)

A bizarre three-way race saw the establishment Republican drop out and endorse the Democrat rather than the insurgent Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, splitting the right and handing Bill Owens the first Democratic win in that seat in over a century. It became an early

Year: 2009Seat/Office: U.S. House (New York-23)Margin of Victory: 3 %Total Spending: 5 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 8.5/10

added by IJR

South Carolina 1st Congressional District Special Election (2013)

Disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford, still remembered for his 'hiking the Appalachian Trail' affair cover story, staged a stunning political comeback to reclaim a House seat over Elizabeth Colbert Busch. The race became a referendum on redemption in American politics. Few come

Year: 2013Seat/Office: U.S. House (South Carolina-1)Margin of Victory: 9 %Total Spending: 3 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 8.5/10

added by IJR

Arizona 2nd Congressional District Special Election (2012)

Held to fill the seat Gabby Giffords vacated after surviving an assassination attempt, this race carried an emotional weight rarely seen in a special election. Her longtime aide Ron Barber, wounded in the same shooting, won the seat in a deeply symbolic victory. The election felt

Year: 2012Seat/Office: U.S. House (Arizona-2)Margin of Victory: 7 %Total Spending: 3 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 8/10

added by IJR

California 25th Congressional District Special Election (2020)

Mike Garcia's win after Democrat Katie Hill resigned amid scandal marked the first Republican pickup of a California House seat in 22 years, stunning a state written off as a GOP dead zone. It became an early sign of unexpected suburban shifts heading into the 2020 election. The

Year: 2020Seat/Office: U.S. House (California-25)Margin of Victory: 10 %Total Spending: 10 $MParty Flip: ✓Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 8/10

added by IJR

New York 20th Congressional District Special Election (2009)

Scott Murphy and Jim Tedisco fought to a virtual tie decided only after weeks of absentee ballot litigation and a margin measured in the dozens of votes. The race became a case study in how modern recounts can drag a special election's drama out for a month. It's remembered as on

Year: 2009Seat/Office: U.S. House (New York-20)Margin of Victory: 0.15 %Total Spending: 5 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: ✓Drama Factor: 8/10

added by IJR

Montana At-Large Special Election (2017)

The night before Election Day, Greg Gianforte body-slammed a reporter who asked about health care policy, a moment caught on audio that went viral worldwide. Incredibly, he still won the seat comfortably, later pleading guilty to assault. It stands as one of the strangest pre-ele

Year: 2017Seat/Office: U.S. House (Montana, At-Large)Margin of Victory: 6 %Total Spending: 10 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 8/10

added by IJR

Ohio 12th Congressional District Special Election (2018)

Republican Troy Balderson narrowly held off Danny O'Connor by roughly one point in a district the GOP had won by 36 points just two years earlier. The near-miss in reliably red Ohio suburbs became one of the loudest midterm warning signs for the party in power. It was close enoug

Year: 2018Seat/Office: U.S. House (Ohio-12)Margin of Victory: 1 %Total Spending: 8 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 7.5/10

added by IJR

New Jersey Senate Special Election (2013)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's win over Steve Lonegan after the death of longtime Senator Frank Lautenberg was less nail-biter and more coronation, but Booker's national profile and social-media fame gave the race outsized attention. It marked his jump from mayor to senator in one dr

Year: 2013Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (New Jersey)Margin of Victory: 10.5 %Total Spending: 10 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 6.5/10

added by IJR

West Virginia Senate Special Election (2010)

After Senator Robert Byrd's death ended his more than 50 years in office, Governor Joe Manchin won the special election to succeed him, famously firing a rifle into a cap-and-trade bill in a campaign ad to prove his independence from national Democrats. The stunt became one of th

Year: 2010Seat/Office: U.S. Senate (West Virginia)Margin of Victory: 10 %Total Spending: 8 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 6.5/10

added by IJR

Texas 6th Congressional District Special Election (2021)

After Congressman Ron Wright died of COVID-19, an all-party field narrowed to a runoff between his widow Susan Wright and fellow Republican Jake Ellzey, splitting the district's Republican base in an unusually intra-party finale. Ellzey's win over the Trump-backed widow was seen

Year: 2021Seat/Office: U.S. House (Texas-6)Margin of Victory: 3 %Total Spending: 5 $MParty Flip: —Recount/Legal Battle: —Drama Factor: 6/10

added by IJR