Senate elections 2016: how many Democrat and Republican Senators?
The race for the Senate 2020 is over. Democrats have flipped the upper chamber after six years of Republican control. What was the split four years ago?
There are two Senators assigned to Congress for each of the 50 states. Each of the 100 Senators in the upper chamber are up for election every six years, which means that every two years one third of the chamber is up for re-election. Compared to the House of Representatives this is a very slow turnaround, as all 435 members of the House go up for election every two years, at the same time.
Two historic and unusual runoff elections in Georgia on 5 January have just decided the fate of the more prestigious and powerful chamber of US Congress, the Senate, for at least two more years. The Democrats have held on to a narrow majority in the House, and now the Senate by one deciding vote. This has enormous implications for Joe Biden’s first two years in office, which begins on inauguration day 20 January.
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have now flipped the Senate blue following extraordinary Georgia runoffs, leaving the split in the Senate at exactly 50 – 50. Two Independent Senators, Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Angus S. King (Maine) tend to vote with Democrats on major issues. Democrat Kamala Harris as vice-president and therefore president of the Senate, will break tied votes, where necessary.
Which Republicans won Senate seats in 2016?
Rewinding to four years ago at the end of 2016 when Donald Trump won the presidential election, what was the split between the Republican and Democrat parties and who won the seats that were up for election in the Senate?
There were 52 Republicans Senators in total following the results of the Senate elections 2016. The GOP lost two seats in the 2016 election. There were 24 Republican seats up for re-election.
Republicans who won re-election in seats their party already held in 2016’s Senate election:
- Alabama, Richard Shelby
- Alaska, Lisa Murkowski
- Arizona, John McCain
- Arkansas, John Boozman
- Florida, Marco Rubio
- Georgia, Johnny Isakson
- Idaho, Mike Crapo
- Indiana, Todd Young
- Iowa, Chuck Grassley
- Kansas, Jerry Moran
- Kentucky, Rand Paul
- Louisiana, John Neely Kennedy (runoff)
- Missouri, Roy Blunt
- New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte
- North Carolina, Richard Burr
- North Dakota, John Hoeven
- Ohio, Rob Portman
- Oklahoma, James Lankford
- Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey
- South Carolina, Tim Scott
- South Dakota, John Thune
- Utah, Mike Lee
- Wisconsin, Ron Johnson
Republicans who lost seats previously held by Democrats in 2016’s Senate election:
- Illinois, Mark Kirk
- New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte
Which Democrats won Senate seats in 2016?
There were 48 Democrat Senate seats in total following the results of the Senate elections 2016. The Democrats won two seats in the 2016 election. There were 10 Democratic seats up for re-election.
Democrats who won re-election in seats their party already held in 2016’s Senate election:
- California, Kamala Harris
- Colorado, Michael Bennet
- Conneticut, Richard Blumenthal
- Hawaii, Brian Schatz
- Maryland, Chris Van Hollen
- Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto
- New York, Chuck Schumer
- Oregon, Ron Wyden
- Vermont, Patrick Leahy
- Washington, Patty Murray
Democrats who won seats previously held by Republicans in 2016’s Senate election:
- Illinois, Tammy Duckworth
- New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan