2022 United States Senate elections

2022 United States Senate elections

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35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate
51[a] seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Chuck Schumer Mitch McConnell
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 3, 2017 January 3, 2007
Leader's seat New York Kentucky
Seats before 48 + VP[b][c] 50
Seats after 49[d] 49
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 1
Popular vote 46,208,845[e] 43,850,241[e]
Percentage 50.0% 47.4%
Seats up 14 21
Races won 15 20

  Third party
 
Party Independent
Seats before 2[b]
Seats after 2
Seat change Steady
Seats up 0
Races won 0

2022 United States Senate elections in California2022 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma2022 United States Senate election in Alabama2022 United States Senate election in Alaska2022 United States Senate election in Arizona2022 United States Senate election in Arkansas2022 United States Senate elections in California2022 United States Senate election in Colorado2022 United States Senate election in Connecticut2022 United States Senate election in Florida2022 United States Senate election in Georgia2022 United States Senate election in Hawaii2022 United States Senate election in Idaho2022 United States Senate election in Illinois2022 United States Senate election in Indiana2022 United States Senate election in Iowa2022 United States Senate election in Kansas2022 United States Senate election in Kentucky2022 United States Senate election in Louisiana2022 United States Senate election in Maryland2022 United States Senate election in Missouri2022 United States Senate election in Nevada2022 United States Senate election in New Hampshire2022 United States Senate election in New York2022 United States Senate election in North Carolina2022 United States Senate election in North Dakota2022 United States Senate election in Ohio2022 United States Senate election in Oklahoma2022 United States Senate election in Oregon2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania2022 United States Senate election in South Carolina2022 United States Senate election in South Dakota2022 United States Senate election in Utah2022 United States Senate election in Vermont2022 United States Senate election in Washington2022 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
Results of the elections:
     Democratic gain
     Democratic hold      Republican hold
     No election
Rectangular inset (Oklahoma): both seats up for election

Majority Leader before election

Chuck Schumer
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Chuck Schumer
Democratic

The 2022 United States Senate elections were held on November 8, 2022, concurrently with other midterm elections at the federal, state, and local levels. Regularly scheduled elections were held for 34 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, the winners of which will serve 6-year terms beginning with the 118th United States Congress. 2 special elections were held to complete unexpired terms. While pundits considered the Republican Party a slight favorite to gain control of the Senate, the Democrats outperformed expectations and expanded the majority they had held since 2021,[2][3] gaining a seat for a functioning 51–49 majority.

Senators are divided into 3 classes whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every other year. All 34 Class 3 Senate seats, last elected in 2016, were up for election in 2022. Before the elections, Class 3 consisted of 14 Democrats and 20 Republicans. Special elections were concurrently held in California, to fill Vice President Kamala Harris's unexpired Senate term ending in 2022,[4] and in Oklahoma, to fill the remaining 4 years of Jim Inhofe's unexpired term.[5] 5 Republican senators and 1 Democratic senator retired instead of seeking re-election; 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats ran for re-election. Before the elections, Democrats had held a majority in the Senate since January 20, 2021. There were 48 Democratic and 2 Independent senators who caucused with them; Harris's tie-breaking vote as vice president gave Democrats control of the chamber.[2]

While Republicans appeared slightly favored in several competitive races, a red wave election did not materialize.[6][7][8] Democrats gained a seat, in Pennsylvania where Democrat John Fetterman won the election to succeed retiring Republican Pat Toomey.[9] All incumbents won re-election, and all other open seats besides Pennsylvania were held by the same party as the retiring senator. For the first time since the ratification of the 17th Amendment, no incumbent lost a U.S. Senate primary or general election.[10][f]

The better-than-expected performance of Democrats has been attributed to several factors,[11] including the issue of abortion after Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization,[12] the role of Donald Trump, and alleged extremism or election denialism among Republicans.[13][14][15] The 2022 election cycle was the first time in U.S. history in which multiple Senate races in the same year were contested between two Black nominees (Georgia and South Carolina).[16][g]


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  1. ^ 2023 Congressional Record, Vol. 169, Page S22 (January 3, 2023)
  2. ^ a b "2022 Election: Live Analysis and Results". FiveThirtyEight. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  3. ^ Hulse, Carl (December 7, 2022). "Democrats Didn't Just Win Georgia. They Secured a Firmer Grip on the Senate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Wilson, Reid (September 28, 2021). "California rule change means Padilla faces extra election". The Hill. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  5. ^ Beavers, Olivia; Everett, Burgess (February 24, 2022). "Inhofe to retire from Senate, teeing up special election in Oklahoma". Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  6. ^ Hounshell, Blake (November 9, 2022). "Five Takeaways From a Red Wave That Didn't Reach the Shore". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  7. ^ Knowles, Hannah; Scherer, Michael (November 9, 2022). "Democrats show strength, leaving fight for control of Congress unresolved". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  8. ^ McGraw, Meridith (November 9, 2022). "Trump's biggest midterm bets don't pay out". Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  9. ^ "Democrat John Fetterman wins US Senate race in Pennsylvania". AP News. Associated Press. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  10. ^ Girous, Greg (December 7, 2022). "Warnock Win Seals Perfect 2022 for Senators Seeking Re-election". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  11. ^ Koerth, Maggie (November 18, 2022). "So You Think You Can Explain The Election". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  12. ^ Radcliffe, Mary (November 17, 2022). "Abortion Was Always Going To Impact The Midterms". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  13. ^ Silver, Nate (November 9, 2022). "Candidate Quality Mattered". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  14. ^ Levine, Sam; Pilkington, Ed (November 9, 2022). "US midterm voters reject election deniers who support Trump's false claim". The Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  15. ^ Wolf, Zachary B. (November 14, 2022). "These Republicans are admitting the party has an extremism problem". CNN. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  16. ^ Amy, Jeff; Thanawala, Sudhin (May 28, 2022). "In Georgia, 2 Black candidates to compete for Senate seat". The Associated Press. Retrieved December 22, 2022.