2022 United States Senate elections
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 six-year terms beginning with the 118th United States Congress. Two special elections were held to complete unexpired terms. While pundits considered the Republican Party a slight favorite to gain control of the Senate, Senate Democrats outperformed expectations and expanded the majority they had held since 2021, gaining one seat for a functioning 51–49 majority.
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35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results of the elections: Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican hold No election Rectangular inset (Oklahoma): both seats up for election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Senators are divided into three classes whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every two years. All 34 Class 3 Senate seats, last elected in 2016, were up for election in 2022. Prior to the elections, Class 3 consisted of 14 Democrats and 20 Republicans. Special elections were concurrently held in California, to fill Vice President Kamala Harris' unexpired Senate term ending in 2022, and in Oklahoma, to fill the four remaining years of resigning senator Jim Inhofe's unexpired term. Five Republican senators and one Democratic senator; 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats ran for re-election. Prior to the elections, Democrats had held a majority in the Senate since January 20, 2021. There were 48 Democratic senators and two independent senators who caucused with them; Harris' tie-breaking vote as vice president gave Democrats control of the chamber.
While Republicans were slightly favored in several competitive races, a red wave election did not materialize. Democrats gained one seat, in Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fetterman won the election to succeed retiring Republican Pat Toomey. 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.
The better-than-expected performance of Democrats has been attributed to several factors, including the issue of abortion after Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the role of Donald Trump, and alleged extremism or election denialism among Republicans. 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).