2015 United States elections

The 2015 United States elections were held (for the most part) on Tuesday, November 3. The off-year election included a special election for Speaker of the House. There were also gubernatorial and state legislative elections in a few states; as well as numerous citizen initiatives, mayoral races, and a variety of other local offices on the ballot.

2015 United States elections
2014          2015          2016
Off-year elections
Election dayNovember 3
Congressional special elections
Seats contested3 House mid-term vacancies
Net seat change0
Map of the 2015 House special elections
     Republican hold (3)
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested3
Net seat change0
Map of the 2015 gubernatorial races
     Republican hold (1)
     Republican gain (1)      Democratic gain (1)

None of the three congressional seats that were up for special elections changed party hands. The Democrats picked up the governorship in Louisiana, while the Republicans picked up the one in Kentucky and held onto the governorship in Mississippi. The Republicans also picked up other various statewide offices. This led NPR to call the 2015 elections "a stinging rebuke to President Obama ... cap[ping] off yet another disappointing election cycle for Democrats", who have performed poorly against the Republicans in midterm and off-year elections during Obama's tenure.[1] According to The Washington Post, the election results were characterized by deepening political polarization, as the Democrats held their own or even gained ground in Democratic-leaning cities and states, while Republican gains were concentrated in Republican-leaning states.[2]

Federal elections

The following special elections were held to replace Senators or House Representatives who either died or resigned while in office:

Congressional leadership election

After John Boehner of Ohio's 8th congressional district announced his resignation from the position of Speaker of the House on September 25, a special election to replace him was initially scheduled for October 8.[10] However, after initial frontrunner Kevin McCarthy, the current House Majority leader of California's 23rd congressional district, suddenly withdrew from the race the day of the nomination vote, Republican leadership decided to move the election further back, to an unknown date later in October, if not beyond that.[11] Both the second Republican frontrunner, Jason Chaffetz of Utah's 3rd congressional district, and Chairman of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, and Bill Flores of Texas's 17th congressional district, withdrew on October 20 and 22, respectively, to express their support for Paul Ryan, the vice presidential candidate in 2012, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and representative of Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, who entered the race on October 22 after long being considered a potential frontrunner.[12][13][14] The only other Republican candidate was Daniel Webster of Florida's 10th congressional district, a member of the highly-conservative Freedom Caucus that caused both Boehner to resign and McCarthy to withdraw.[15] The Democratic candidate was current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California's 12th congressional district.[16] On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker with 236 of the 432 votes cast. Pelosi received 184, and Webster received 9. Jim Cooper, John Lewis, and Colin Powell all received 1 each.[17]

State elections

Gubernatorial

Three states held gubernatorial elections in 2015.

Statewide executive offices

Three states held elections for statewide executive offices in 2015:

State legislatures

Legislative elections were held for four states in 2015: Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia.[21]

Local elections

Various elections were held for officeholders in numerous cities, counties, school boards, special districts and others around the country.

Mayoral elections

Some of the large cities holding mayoral elections include:[22]

Other local elections

Other city offices
Local propositions
  • Houston, Texas Proposition 1: A referendum on an anti-discrimination ordinance known as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. Houston voters rejected this measure.

Tables of partisan control results

These tables show the partisan results of the Congressional special elections and gubernatorial races in 2015. Bold indicates a change in control.

House Congressional seats
  Before 2015 elections[73] After 2015 elections[74]
District Incumbent State delegation Winner State delegation
Illinois 18th Rep Dem 10–8 Rep Dem 10–8
Mississippi 1st Rep Rep 3–1 Rep Rep 3–1
New York 11th Dem Dem 18–9 Dem Dem 18–9
United States Rep 247–188 Rep 247–188
Governorships
State Incumbent[73] Winner[74]
Kentucky Dem Rep
Louisiana Rep Dem
Mississippi Rep Rep
United States Rep 31–18–1 Rep 31–18–1

References

  1. "Voters Rebuke Democrats At Polls In Another Blow To Obama". NPR. November 4, 2015.
  2. E.J. Dionne, Jr. (November 4, 2015). "Election Day: Red states get redder, blue states get bluer" Archived 2018-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
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  6. The Associated Press (June 2, 2015). "Mississippi: District Attorney Wins Special Election for Seat in Congress". Retrieved June 6, 2015 via The New York Times.
  7. Pergram, Chad (December 30, 2014). "Rep. Michael Grimm to resign after admitting to tax evasion". Fox News. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
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