Special elections are being held on September 22 for two districts in the Mississippi State Senate and two districts in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Runoff elections will be held for each race if no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote in the general election. Candidates in Mississippi state legislative special elections run without party labels on the ballot.
• In Senate District 15, Joyce Meek Yates, Bricklee Miller, Levon Murphy Jr., and Bart Williams are running in the general election. The seat became vacant after Gary Jackson (R) resigned on June 30. Johnson cited health concerns in his announcement that he would be retiring. He had represented District 15 since 2004.
• In Senate District 39, Jason Barrett, Beth Brown, Cindy Bryan, Mike Campbell, Josh Davis, Ben Johnson, Prentiss Smith, Michael Smith, and Bill Sones are running in the general election. The seat became vacant on July 15 after Sally Doty (R) was appointed as the executive director of the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff. Doty had represented District 39 since 2012.
• In House District 37, David Chism, Vicky Rose, and Lynn Wright are running in the general election. The seat became vacant after the resignation of Gary Chism (R) on June 30. Gary Chism suffered a stroke in 2017 and said that serving in the state House had become more difficult since then. He also cited his wife’s health concerns as a reason for his resignation. He had represented District 37 since 2000.
• In House District 66, Gregory Divinity, Bob Lee Jr., Fabian Nelson, Kathryn Perry, De’Keither Stamps, and Calvin Williams are running in the general election. The seat became vacant on July 2 after Jarvis Dortch (D) resigned to accept a position as executive director of the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He had represented District 66 since 2016.
Mississippi legislators are elected to four-year terms, and elections are held in odd-numbered years. All seats in the state Senate and state House are up for election again on November 7, 2023.
As of September, 58 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2020 in 26 states. Between 2011 and 2019, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.