There were two special elections to the United States Senate in 2013; ordered by election date:
Race summary
| State (linked to summaries below) |
Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
| Massachusetts (Class 2) |
Mo Cowan | Democratic | 2013 (Appointed) | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected June 25, 2013. Democratic hold. |
|
| New Jersey (Class 2) |
Jeffrey Chiesa | Republican | 2013 (Appointed) | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected October 16, 2013. Democratic gain. |
|
Massachusetts (special)
A special election was held June 25, 2013 to fill the Class 2 seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2015.
The vacancy that prompted the special election was created by the resignation of Senator John Kerry, in order to become U.S. Secretary of State.[1] On January 30, 2013, Governor Deval Patrick chose his former Chief of Staff Mo Cowan to serve as interim U.S. Senator. Cowan declined to participate in the election. A party primary election was held April 30 to determinate the nominees of each party for the general election. The Massachusetts Democrats nominated congressman Ed Markey, while the Massachusetts Republicans nominated Gabriel E. Gomez, a businessman and former Navy SEAL.
The special primary elections took place on April 30. Democratic Congressman Ed Markey and Republican businessman Gabriel E. Gomez won their respective primaries.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ed Markey | 311,219 | 57.0 | |
| Democratic | Stephen Lynch | 230,335 | 43.0 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Gabriel Gomez | 96,276 | 51.0 | |
| Republican | Michael J. Sullivan | 67,918 | 36.0 | |
| Republican | Daniel Winslow | 24,630 | 13.0 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edward Markey | 642,988 | 54.71% |  11.11
| |
| Republican | Gabriel Gomez | 525,080 | 44.53% |  13.54
| |
| Twelve Visions Party | Richard Heos | 4,518 | 0.39% | n/a | |
| Write-ins and Blank | 4,495 | 0.38% | n/a | ||
| Majority | 120,122 | 10.18% | |||
| Turnout | 1,179,781 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | 11.1
|
|||
New Jersey (special)
A special election was held October 16, 2013 to fill the Class 2 seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2015. The vacancy resulted from the death of five-term Democrat Frank Lautenberg on June 3, 2013.[4] In the interim, the seat was held by Republican Senator Jeffrey Chiesa, who was appointed on June 6, 2013 by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to serve until the elected winner was sworn in.[5] At the time of his appointment, Chiesa, then New Jersey's Attorney General, announced that he would not be a candidate in the special election.[6]
Following Lautenberg's death, there was a great deal of speculation and controversy over when a special election would or could be scheduled, but the following day, June 4, 2013, Christie announced that the primary would take place on August 13, 2013, and the special election on October 16, 2013.[7] Christie was criticized for scheduling a separate election for Senate when a gubernatorial election was already taking place in November. In the primary elections, the Republicans nominated former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and the Democrats nominated Newark Mayor Cory Booker.[8] Booker led in every opinion poll and the race was called for him at approximately 9:45 pm EDT on October 16, 2013. Booker resigned as Mayor of Newark and was sworn in on October 31, 2013 to become the junior U.S. senator from New Jersey.
The special primary elections took place on August 13. Former Republican Mayor of Bogota Steve Lonegan and Democratic Mayor of Newark Cory Booker won their respective primaries.[8] They faced off against six Independent/Third Party candidates in the October 16, 2013 general election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Lonegan | 103,280 | 80.09% | |
| Republican | Alieta Eck | 25,669 | 19.91% | |
| Total votes | 128,958 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Cory Booker | 216,936 | 59.17% | |
| Democratic | Frank Pallone | 72,584 | 19.80% | |
| Democratic | Rush D. Holt Jr. | 61,463 | 16.76% | |
| Democratic | Sheila Oliver | 15,656 | 4.27% | |
| Total votes | 366,639 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Cory Booker | 740,742 | 54.92% | -1.11% | |
| Republican | Steve Lonegan | 593,684 | 44.02% | +2.07% | |
| Independent | Edward C. Stackhouse, Jr. | 5,138 | 0.38% | N/A | |
| Independent | Robert Depasquale | 3,137 | 0.23% | N/A | |
| Independent | Stuart David Meissner | 2,051 | 0.15% | N/A | |
| Independent | Pablo Olivera | 1,530 | 0.11% | N/A | |
| Independent | Antonio Nico Sabas | 1,336 | 0.10% | N/A | |
| Independent | Eugene M. LaVergne | 1,041 | 0.08% | N/A | |
| Total votes | '1,348,659' | '100.0%' | N/A | ||
| Democratic gain from Republican | |||||
References
- ^ "Senate votes to confirm Kerry as secretary of state". Reuters. January 29, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ a b "2013 Massachusetts Senate Special Election Primaries". April 30, 2013.
- ^ Massachusetts Election Statistics, 2014 (Report). Commonwealth of Massachusetts Elections Division. 2014. Archived from the original on December 31, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
- ^ Blake, Aaron (June 3, 2013). "Sen. Frank Lautenberg dead at 89". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
- ^ Blake, Aaron (June 6, 2013). "Christie to appoint Jeff Chiesa to Senate". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
- ^ Zernike, Kate; Santora, Marc (June 6, 2013). "Christie Picks New Jersey's Attorney General to Be Interim Senator". The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
- ^ "Writ of Election" (PDF). June 4, 2013.
- ^ a b "New Jersey Senate Election: Cory Booker Wins Democratic Primary". August 13, 2013.
- ^ a b "2013 New Jersey Senate Special Election Primaries". August 13, 2013.
- ^ "Official List Candidates for US Senate - For SPECIAL GENERAL ELECTION FOR US SENATE 10/16/2013 Election" (PDF). New Jersey Secretary of State. October 28, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.