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The 100 seats in the United States Senate are divided into three classes for the purpose of determining which seats will be up for election in any two-year cycle, with only one class being up for election at a time. With senators being elected to fixed terms of six years, the classes allow about a third of the seats to be up for election in any presidential or midterm election year instead of having all 100 be up for election at the same time every six years. The seats are also divided in such a way that any given state's two senators are in different classes so that each seat's term ends in different years. Class 1 and class 2 consist of 33 seats each, while class 3 consists of 34 seats. Elections for class 1 seats took place in 2024, and elections for classes 2 and 3 will take place in 2026 and 2028, respectively.
The three classes were established by Article I, Section 3, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The actual division was originally performed by the Senate of the 1st Congress in May 1789 by lot.[1] Whenever a new state subsequently joined the union, its two Senate seats were assigned to two different classes by a random draw, while keeping the three classes as close to the same number as possible.[2]
The classes only apply to the regular fixed-term elections of the Senate. A special election to fill a vacancy, usually either due to the incumbent resigning or dying while in office, may happen in any given year regardless of the seat's class.[3]
A senator's description as junior or senior senator is also not related to their class. Rather, a state's senior U.S. senator is the one with the greater seniority in the Senate, which is mostly based on length of service.