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How Many Democrats Republicans Are In The Senate

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Important Dates And Deadlines

The table below lists filing deadlines and primary dates in each state for Democratic Party and Republican Party candidates for congressional and state-level office.

Primary dates and filing deadlines, 2020
State Filing deadline for primary candidates Primary date
04/21/2020 & 05/08/2020 08/04/2020
04/24/2020 & 6/12/2020
05/05/2020 & 06/02/2020 09/01/2020
06/24/2020 07/10/2020
N/A

The People V The Us Senate

A number of left-wing thinkers are calling for America to ditch the Senate. Why is the long-shot idea gaining popularity?


Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court by a vote of 5048, with one senator absent and one abstaining. Only one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted with the solidly Republican majority, which represented just 44 percent of the countrys population. Indeed, when Americans last voted for their senators , Democrats won the popular vote by more than 8 percent. Its that disproportionalityand the reality that a majority of the countrys population is represented by just 18 senatorsthat is driving concerns about the Senates ability to function as a representative body in a changing America.

The Senate is embedded within the Constitution as few other institutions are, with a special clause that some believe makes it immune to the standard amendment process. Adding more diverse states is one solution Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories would likely send Democrats to Capitol Hill if they gained representation, somewhat balancing the chamber.

Others, mainly on the far left, have suggested simply abolishing the body in its entirety, though the idea is not mainstream. But both those who want abolition and those who want more modest, but nonetheless significant, changes agree: The Senate is increasingly unrepresentative of the American populace.

Seats Up For Election


Staff Writer Marielle Bricker gives an overview of the 2020 United States Senate election. View other episodes here.

Twelve seats held by Democrats and 23 seats held by Republicans were up for election in 2020, including the Arizona special election and the Georgia special election. In 2014, the Republican Party picked up nine seats, resulting in their having more seats to defend in 2020. The map and table below show what seats were up for election and the incumbent heading into the election in each race.

2020 Senate elections
54.8

Filed Candidates By Political Party

As of September 7, 2020, 519 candidates were filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for U.S. Senate in 2020. Of those, 402â199 Democrats and 203 Republicansâwere from one of the two major political parties. In 2018, 527 candidates filed with the FEC to run for U.S. Senate, including 137 Democrats and 240 Republicans.

The following chart shows the number of filed candidates by political party.


List Of Current Members Of The Us Congress

Importance Of Doug Jonesâ Winning US Senate Election ...

Features of Congress
Background
United States House of Representatives elections, 2022
Analysis Lifetime voting records Net worth of United States Senators and Representatives Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives National Journal vote ratings

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the United States of America’s federal government. It consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, with members chosen through direct election.

Congress has 535 voting members. The Senate has 100 voting officials, and the House has 435 voting officials, along with five delegates and one resident commissioner.

Midterms Produce Divided Congress: What Does Future Hold


Most prominently, more Republican senators will help the party and the president continue to push through conservative judges onto the federal bench. Should another Supreme Court vacancy arise before the 2020 elections, Republicans will have more votes to help them get a nominee through a grueling confirmation battle.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said as much in a tweet after the GOP was projected to retain control of the Senate.

When the GOP maintains control of the Senate, the conservative judicial train is going to keep running!

And with speculation strong that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be replaced following the election, more Republicans in the Senate means that a potential replacement may have a slightly easier time being confirmed.

: Republicans Return To Power; Idc Forms


Republicans retook the Senate majority in the 2010 elections, winning 32 seats to the Democrats’ 30 on Election Day. One Republican Senate incumbent was defeated, while Democratic candidate David Carlucci was elected to an open seat in Senate District 38 that had been vacated due to the death of Republican Senator Thomas Morahan on July 12, 2010. Four Democratic incumbents lost their seats to Republicans in the 2010 elections: Sen. Brian Foley was defeated by Lee Zeldin, Sen. Antoine Thompson was defeated by Mark Grisanti, Sen. Darrel Aubertine was defeated by Patty Ritchie, and Craig M. Johnson was defeated by Jack Martins.

Just before the new legislative session convened in January 2011, four Senate Democrats–led by former Democratic whip Jeff Klein–broke away from the Senate Democratic Conference to form an Independent Democratic Conference . Klein said that he and his three colleagues, Diane Savino, David Carlucci and David Valesky could no longer support the leadership of Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson.

In March 2011, “Gang of Four” member Senator Carl Kruger surrendered to bribery charges. He later pleaded guilty to those charges in December 2011. On March 20, 2012, Republican David Storobin defeated Democrat Lew Fidler in a special election to fill Kruger’s vacated seat; results of the special election took weeks to finalize.

Democrats Take Control Of Senate With Twin Georgia Victories


Democrats will have a narrow control of the U.S. Senate. The chamber will be split 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris having a tiebreaking vote. Patrick Semansky/APhide caption

toggle caption

Democrats will have a narrow control of the U.S. Senate. The chamber will be split 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris having a tiebreaking vote.

Democrats took exceedingly narrow control of the Senate on Wednesday after winning both runoff elections in Georgia, granting them control of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2011.


Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue, according to The Associated Press, making him the youngest member of the U.S. Senate and the first Jewish senator from Georgia. Earlier Raphael Warnock, a pastor from Atlanta, defeated GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler after a bitter campaign. Warnock becomes the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from a Southern state.

The Senate will now be split 50-50 between the two parties, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote.

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Ossoff had a narrow lead Wednesday morning when he declared victory.

“It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate,” he said.


Perdue has not conceded.

Impact on Biden agenda

Republicans Secure Half Of Total Us Senate Seats

WASHINGTON U.S. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska won reelection Wednesday, assuring Republicans of at least 50 seats in the 100-member Senate for the next two years, while leaving control of the chamber uncertain until two runoff elections are held in Georgia in early January.


After slow vote-counting in the northwestern-most state of the U.S. after the November 3 election, news media concluded that Sullivan had an insurmountable lead over Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran as an independent candidate with Democratic support. The contest was called with Sullivan, a conservative, ahead by 20 percentage points.

With Republicans assured of at least half the Senate seats, attention now turns to the two January 5 runoff elections in the southern state of Georgia.

Two conservative Republican lawmakers Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler now hold the two seats, but both failed in separate contests last week to win a majority, forcing them into the runoffs.

Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff, an investigative journalist who narrowly lost a 2017 race for a seat in the House of Representatives before trying to oust Perdue from the Senate seat he has held since 2015.

Loeffler, who was appointed to her Senate seat in early 2020, is facing Raphael Warnock, a progressive Democrat who is senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Seats That Changed Party Hands In 2014

In 2014âthe last time the 33 seats up for regular election in 2020 were up for electionânine seats changed party hands. Republicans picked up all nine seats.

Senate seats that changed party hands, 2014
State 2020 rating: Inside Elections 2020 rating: Sabato
Retiring from public office, 2020
Name
Democratic

The Houses Balance Of Power Is Tipped Toward Democrats

The Democrats have a narrow six-member margin in the current House of Representatives, meaning if just a handful of seats flip, Republicans can regain control of the House.

Democrats advantage will grow to seven when Troy Carter is sworn in to fill a seat in Louisianas delegation left vacant by Cedric Richmond, who left the House to join the Biden administration as the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. 

Historical Special Election Data

Special elections, 2013-2020

Fifty special elections to the United States Congress were held during the 113th through 116th Congresses. During that time, special elections were called for 16 seats vacated by Democrats and 34 vacated by Republicans.

The table below details how many congressional seats changed parties as the result of a special election between 2013 and 2020. The numbers on the left side of the table reflect how many vacant seats were originally held by each party, while the numbers on the right side of the table show how many vacant seats each party won in special elections.

Congressional special election vacancies and results, 113th Congress to 116th Congress
Congress
U.S. Senate special election partisan change from special elections, 113th Congress to 116th Congress
Party
U.S. House special election partisan change from special elections, 113th Congress to 116th Congress
Party
40 40
To see a list of all the Congressional special elections referenced in the table above, click at the right.  
Results of special elections to the 113th, 114th, and 115th Congress
Race
R+13

Special elections, 1986-2012

Results of special elections to Congress
Election cycle
3 5
3 2
3 None
21 19 9

Who Now Controls The Senate

So Now What?

Chuck Schumer became majority leader following the swearing in of Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California by Kamala Harris on January 20, 2021.

Warnock, 51, and Ossoff, 33, had won special elections earlier in the month that determined control of the Senate

Schumer said in his first speech as majority leader: We have a lengthy agenda, and we need to get it done together.

“This will be an exceptionally busy and consequential period for the United States Senate.”

The ceremony officially cemented a shift in power in the chamber in the wake of the US election.

There is now a 50-50 split in the Senate which means the new Vice President will be able to break any possible ties as she will have the casting vote.

The Vice President also serves as president of the Senate. 

Focus On Competitive Races

Democrats targeted Republican-held Senate seats in Arizona and Nevada. Seats in Texas,Mississippi and Tennessee were also competitive for the Democrats. Republicans targeted Democratic-held seats in Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia, all of which had voted Republican in both the 2012 presidential election and the 2016 presidential election. Seats in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, all of which voted for Trump in 2016, were also targeted by Republicans. The Democratic-held seat in New Jersey was also considered unexpectedly competitive due to corruption allegations surrounding the Democratic incumbent.

Vice President Harris Will Break Any Ties In 50

WASHINGTONDemocrats officially control the U.S. Senate, with the swearing in of three new Democratic senators, but negotiations with Republicans have yet to yield a deal on power sharing.

Vice President Kamala Harris administered the oath of office on Wednesday to newly elected Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and to her own successor, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California. 

Both the Democratic and Republican Senate caucuses now have 50 members, and Ms. Harris will cast any tie-breaking vote.

Messrs. Warnock and Ossoff are Georgias first Black and first Jewish senators, respectively. And Mr. Padilla is the first Latino senator from California.

Sen. Chuck Schumer now becomes the Senate majority leader. But talks on an organizing resolution for the new Senate have stalled, complicating the timing of confirmation votes for President Bidens cabinet nominees, as well as the prospects for new legislation.

United States House Of Representatives Elections 2020

U.S. House Republican Party primaries, 2020

Democrats maintained a majority in the U.S. House as a result of the 2020 elections, winning 222 seats to Republicans 213. Democrats flipped three seats and Republicans flipped 15, including one held by a Libertarian in 2020.

Heading into the November 3, 2020, election, Democrats held a 232-197 advantage in the U.S. House. Libertarians held one seat, and five seats were vacant. All 435 seats were up for election, with Republicans needing to gain a net 21 seats to win a majority in the chamber.

In 2018, Democrats gained a net 40 seats to win a majority. Republicans had held a majority in the chamber since 2010.

Ballotpedia tracked 41 districts as battleground races: 20 held by Democrats heading into the election, 20 held by Republicans, and one held by a Libertarian. Democrats defended 30 seats that President Trump carried in 2016, while Republicans defended five seats that Hillary Clinton carried that year.

In 2020, 49 U.S. House seats were open, meaning the incumbent was not running for re-election. Thirty-six of those seats were open because the incumbent did not run for re-election, eight were open because the incumbent was defeated in a primary or party convention, and five were open due to a vacancy.

On this page, you will find:

Democrats Take Narrow Control Of Us Senate

4 Min Read

WASHINGTON – Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday when Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three members to give the party a narrow grip on both houses of Congress as well as the White House for the first time in a decade.

The first of President Joe Bidens Cabinet nominees won Senate approval on Wednesday night: Avril Haines, tapped for the job of director of national intelligence.

Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California took the oath of office in the Senate chamber hours after Biden and Harris were sworn in.

Warnock and Ossoff won upset victories in a pair of Jan. 5 runoff elections to split the Senate 50-50 with Harris, a Democrat, holding the decisive vote in any tie between Republicans and Democrats.

Padilla, Californias first Latino senator, was appointed to fill Harriss Senate seat after she resigned on Monday to assume the second highest U.S. office.

Swearing the new senators in, Harris laughed after she read out her own name as the California senator who had resigned, declaring: Yeah, that was very weird, OK.

The three Democrats give Biden a narrow advantage to pursue policies that include a fresh wave of relief for a nation hammered by the coronavirus pandemic in the face of deep political divisions.

The new arrangement makes Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer the majority leader, with Republican Mitch McConnell demoted to minority leader.

The First Hurdle Is The Organizing Resolution

Incoming Democratic Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and outgoing Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have to agree on a set of rules, known as an organizing resolution, which governs how the Senate works. The organizing resolution determines everything from committee membership and staff budgets, to who gets the best office space.

Even with Harriss tie-breaking vote, Schumer will need McConnells support: passing the organizing resolution requires 60 votes. As a result, Republicans will likely end up with much more power than a minority would usually hold.

The last time the Senate was split 50-50, in 2001, lawmakers agreed on an organizing resolution that allowed both parties to share power. Under that deal, the parties agreed to split committee memberships and staff equally and changed the rules, making it so that if a tie vote prevented a measure from moving out of committee, either the majority or the minority leader could bring the bill to the Senate floor.

Schumer and McConnell may take a cue from that 2001 agreement, but Senate observers note that, in these hyper-partisan times, agreeing on even the rules of the road may be tricky. As partisan as it was in 2000, things have become even more partisan, says Sarah Binder, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

The Winding Road To Democratic Control

Following an anxious four days of waiting after the 2020 general election, nearly all major news networks declared that Joe Biden had exceeded 270 electoral votes and won the presidency. Democrats also retained control of the U.S. House, although their majority has been trimmed back .

But the U.S. Senate still hung in the balance, a tantalizing prize for Democrats dreaming of a trifecta, and a bulwark against a Democratic agenda for Republicans who seek to hold onto some power under the new Biden administration that will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021.

Republicans claimed 50 Senate seats after the November election, two more than the 48 seats claimed by the Democratic Caucus at that time.

The Senates balance of power teetered on the fulcrum of Georgias two seats, both of which were decided by the January 5th runoff election. Georgia law requires candidates to be voted in with at least 50% of the votes cast; if a candidate does not reach that threshold the two candidates who received the highest number of votes face one another in a runoff election.

Georgias runoff election featured these match-ups:

  • Incumbent David Perdue versus Jon Ossoff .According to Georgias Secretary of State, Perdue received 88,000 more votes than Ossoff, but came up just shy of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. This is in part due to the 115,000 votes that went to Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel who will not appear on the January ballot.

  • Republican Memo Warns Us Senate At Risk Of Falling Into Democratic Control

    Memo summarizes senate races of 10 states and how the outcome of each could determine who controls the Senate

    A memo by Senate Republicans campaign arm has admitted that control of the upper chamber is at risk and that Democrats could win the Senate in Novembers elections.

    The September 2020 political update from the National Republican Senatorial Committee summarizes the state of the race of 10 states with Senate races around the country and how the outcome of each could factor into whether Republicans or Democrats control the chamber in January.

    The memo, obtained by the Guardian, has been circulating among political operatives, donors and interested parties. It comes just shy of 50 days before the November 2020 elections.

    The next few weeks will define the future of our country for generations to come, the NRSC memo reads.

    Memos like these are often shaped like dispassionate updates but in actuality they are often used to convince interested parties that races slipping out of reach are still in play. They are also often used to juice donations to lagging candidates and counter trending narratives.

    Democrats need to pick up three or four seats to take control of the Senate. The fact that the NRSC memo categorizes seven Senate races as ones that simply cant be lost or deserve serious attention suggests that its possible, but not certain that Democrats can take control of the Senate.

    Biden Administration: Here’s Who Has Been Named So Far

    Midterm elections FULL RESULT: How many seats do Democrats ...

    Return of the bipartisan gangs

    After months of stalemate over the size and scope of a coronavirus relief package in the closing weeks of the last Congress, a group of centrists from both parties, led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, unveiled a $900 billion compromise plan that became the basis for the legislation that ultimately was approved by the House and Senate and signed by President Trump.

    Manchin has said he hopes that model can translate into efforts in 2021.

    Other Republican moderates such as Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who helped on the COVID-19 aid package could also serve as powerful players if they decide to work across the aisle.

    Progressives push for Senate rule changes

    Liberal Democrats have pressed to get rid of the legislative filibuster so that they can pass major health care or environmental bills with a simple majority.

    Biden has sidestepped questions about whether he supports doing away with keeping the 60-vote threshold, but several top Senate Democrats have signaled they back changing a rule that many of them once insisted was essential to the institution. There will be intense pressure on Biden and Democratic leaders to show they can pass some bills with GOP support, but if Senate Republicans stay largely unified to thwart the new administration’s agenda, calls to eliminate the filibuster will increase.

    United States Senate Elections

    2020 United States Senate elections

    The 2020 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, with the 33 class 2 seats of the Senate contested in regular elections. Of these, 21 were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. The winners were elected to six-year terms from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2027. Two special elections for seats held by Republicans were also held in conjunction with the general elections, with one in Arizona to fill the vacancy created by John McCain‘s death in 2018 and one in Georgia following Johnny Isakson‘s resignation in 2019. In both races, the incumbent Republican lost to a Democrat. These elections ran concurrent with the 2020 United States presidential election in which incumbent Republican president Donald Trump lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

    In the 2014 United States Senate elections, the last regularly scheduled elections for Class 2 Senate seats, the Republicans won nine seats from the Democrats and gained a majority, which they continued to hold after the 2016 and 2018 elections. Before the election, Republicans held 53 seats, Democrats held 45 seats, and independents caucusing with the Democrats held two seats, which were not up for reelection. Including the special elections in Arizona and Georgia, Republicans defended 23 seats and the Democrats 12.

    Who Controls The Senate 2021

    THE Democrats are now officially in charge of the Senate – but only by the narrowest of margins.

    That means President Joe Biden has inherited a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Senate.

    * Read our Donald Trump impeachment live blog for the very latest news and updates on the former president…

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