2014 United States Senate elections

2014 United States Senate elections

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36 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mitch McConnell Harry Reid Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 3, 2007 January 3, 2005 Leader's seat Kentucky Nevada Seats before 45 53 Seats after 54 44 Seat change 9 9 Popular vote 23,253,636[1] 19,786,883[1] Percentage 51.5% 43.8% Seats up 15 21 Races won 24 12   Third party   Party Independent Seats before 2[a] Seats after 2[a] Seat change Popular vote 698,161[1] Percentage 1.5% Seats up 0 Races won 0
Results of the elections:      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Republican gain      No election Rectangular inset (Okla. & S.C.): both seats up for election
Majority Leader before election Harry Reid Democratic Elected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Republican

The 2014 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2014. A total of 36 seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate were contested. 33 Class 2 seats were contested for regular 6-year terms to be served from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2021, and 3 Class 3 seats were contested in special elections due to Senate vacancies. The elections marked 100 years of direct elections of U.S. senators. Going into the elections, 21 of the contested seats were held by the Democratic Party, while 15 were held by the Republican Party.

The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate in the 114th Congress, which started in January 2015; the Republicans had not controlled the Senate since January 2007. They needed a net gain of at least 6 seats to obtain a majority and were projected by polls to do so. On election night, they held all of their seats and gained 9 Democratic-held seats. Republicans defeated 5 Democratic incumbents: Mark Begich of Alaska lost to Dan Sullivan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas lost to Tom Cotton, Mark Udall of Colorado lost to Cory Gardner, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana lost to Bill Cassidy, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina lost to Thom Tillis. Republicans also picked up another 4 open seats in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia that were previously held by Democrats. Democrats did not pick up any Republican-held seats, but they did hold an open seat in Michigan.

This was the third and most recent time in American history that any party lost control of the Senate in a sixth-year midterm election cycle, along with 2006 and 1918. With a total net gain of 9 seats, the Republicans made the largest Senate gain by any party since 1980. This is also the first election cycle since 1980 in which more than 2 incumbent Democratic senators were defeated by their Republican challengers.^[2] Days after the election cycle, the United States Election Project estimated that 36.4% of eligible voters voted, 4% lower than the 2010 elections, and possibly the lowest turnout rate since the 1942 election cycle.^[3][4]

As of 2024, this remains the last time that a Republican has won a U.S. Senate election in Colorado and the last time that the president's party has suffered a net loss of Senate seats in a midterm election cycle.

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