Classes of United States senators

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 1and class 2 consist of 33 seats each, while class3 consists of 34 seats. Elections for class1 seats took place in 2024, and elections for classes2 and 3 will take place in 2026 and 2028, respectively.

The three classes were established by ArticleI, Section 3, Clause2 of the U.S. Constitution. The actual division was originally performed by the Senate of the 1st Congress in May 1789 by lot.

The three classes of the Senate are specified by ArticleI, Section3 of the U.S. Constitution:

The allocation took place in May 1789, several weeks after the first Senate assembled. Only twenty senators from ten states were present; North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the U.S. Constitution, and New York, because of its late ratification, had not yet selected its senators. To decide on how to implement the division into classes, on May 11 the Senate appointed a committee consisting of Senators Ellsworth, Carroll, and Few. In accordance with their recommendation, on May 14 the Senate divided the members into three classes:

On the next day, May 15, the term expiration of each class was determined by drawing lots. A random draw determined which new senator enters which of the classes selected to be expanded. This made class1 have 8 senators while classes 2and 3 had 7 senators each. North Carolina was then assigned classes 2and 3 after holding its first Senate elections in November 1789, making all three classes have 8 seats each.

When the newest state, Hawaii, was admitted in 1959, its first Senate elections had candidates run either for "seat A" or "B". The new senators, Hiram Fong and Oren E. Long, in a process managed by the Secretary of the Senate, drew lots to determine which of the two would join class1 (whose term would end in five-and-a-half years), and which would join class3 (whose term would end in three-and-a-half years). If a 51st state is admitted, it will receive senators in classes 1and 2, at which point all three classes would have 34 senators. Because each state has 2 senators, the sum of these figures is 200%, not 100%. Several of the most populous states, such as California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, have their senators in classes 1and 3, provoking this imbalance.

The only times when both of a state's Senate seats are up for election in the same year are either when a new state joins the union (as mentioned above), or when there is a special election to fill a vacant seat. Special elections have no bearing on when the term for that seat ends, and a senator elected in a special election will serve the remainder of the term, until the next regularly scheduled election, not affecting which class that seat falls within.

Class 1

[[File:US Senate Classes.svg|thumb|Map shows the classes in each U.S. state:<br>

]]

Class 1 consists of the 33 Senate seats who were elected in 2024 and whose next election will be in November 2030 and whose terms end January 3, 2031.

This includes earlier senators with terms that ended in 1791, 1797, 1803, 1809, 1815, 1821, 1827, 1833, 1839, 1845, 1851, 1857, 1863, 1869, 1875, 1881, 1887, 1893, 1899, 1905, 1911, 1917, 1923, 1929, 1935, 1941, 1947, 1953, 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2013, 2019, and 2025.

States with a Class 1 senator: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Class 2

Class 2 consists of the 33 Senate seats who were elected in 2020 and whose next election will be in November 2026 and whose terms end January 3, 2027.

This includes earlier senators whose terms ended in 1793, 1799, 1805, 1811, 1817, 1823, 1829, 1835, 1841, 1847, 1853, 1859, 1865, 1871, 1877, 1883, 1889, 1895, 1901, 1907, 1913, 1919, 1925, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1949, 1955, 1961, 1967, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2009, 2015, and 2021.

States with a class 2 senator: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Class 3

Class 3 consists of the 34 Senate seats who were elected in 2022 and whose next election will be in November 2028 and whose terms end January 3, 2029.

This includes earlier senators whose terms ended in 1795, 1801, 1807, 1813, 1819, 1825, 1831, 1837, 1843, 1849, 1855, 1861, 1867, 1873, 1879, 1885, 1891, 1897, 1903, 1909, 1915, 1921, 1927, 1933, 1939, 1945, 1951, 1957, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1981, 1987, 1993, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2017, and 2023.

States with a class 3 senator: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Election cycle years

This table is re-sorted every two years so that the next scheduled election year appears at the top.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

!width="150" | Class

!width="150" | Most recent<br>election year

!width="150" | Next scheduled<br>election year

| Class 2

| 2020

| 2026

| Class 3

| 2022

| 2028

| Class 1

| 2024

| 2030

Comparison with other United States general elections

List of current senators by class

The following table lists the senators by party by class.

{| style="width:900px"

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0; text-align:center; width:100%"

! style="width:200px" |

! style="width:200px" | Class 1

! style="width:200px" | Class 2

! style="width:200px" | Class 3

! style="width:100px" | Total

! | Democratic

| 17

| 13

| 15

! 45

! | Republican

| 14

| 20

| 19

! 53 + VP

! | Independent

| 2 (caucus with Democrats)

| 0

! 2<!--

! | Vacant

| 0

! 0-->

! Last election

| 2024

| 2020

| 2022

! Next election

| 2030

| 2026

| 2028

! Total

! 33

! 34

! 100

The following table lists the senators by state and by class, including the states' Cook Partisan Voting Index ratings, which indicate the party direction in which a state tends to lean and the extent of that lean.

{| style="width:900px"

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" style="margin:0; text-align:center; width:100%"

! style="width:200px" | State

! style="width:200px" | Class 1

! style="width:200px" | Class 2

! style="width:200px" | Class 3

! style="width:100px" | Cook PVI

! Alabama

| | (R)

| |

! Alaska

| | (R)

| |

! Arizona

| | (D)

| |

! Arkansas

| | (R)

| |

! California

| | (D)

| |

! Colorado

| | (D)

| |

! Connecticut

| | (D)

| |

! Delaware

| | (D)

| |

! Florida

| | (R)

| |

! Georgia

| | (D)

| |

! Hawaii

| | (D)

| |

! Idaho

| | (R)

| |

! Illinois

| | (D)

| |

! Indiana

| | (R)

| |

! Iowa

| | (R)

| |

! Kansas

| | (R)

| |

! Kentucky

| | (R)

| |

! Louisiana

| | (R)

| |

! Maine

| | (I)

| | (R)

| |

! Maryland

| | (D)

| |

! Massachusetts

| | (D)

| |

! Michigan

| | (D)

| |

! Minnesota

| | (D)

| |

! Mississippi

| | (R)

| |

! Missouri

| | (R)

| |

! Montana

| | (R)

| |

! Nebraska

| | (R)

| |

! Nevada

| | (D)

| |

! New Hampshire

| | (D)

| |

! New Jersey

| | (D)

| |

! New Mexico

| | (D)

| |

! New York

| | (D)

| |

! North Carolina

| | (R)

| |

! North Dakota

| | (R)

| |

! Ohio

| | (R)

| |

! Oklahoma

| | (R)

| |

! Oregon

| | (D)

| |

! Pennsylvania

| | (R)

| | (D)

| |

! Rhode Island

| | (D)

| |

! South Carolina

| | (R)

| |

! South Dakota

| | (R)

| |

! Tennessee

| | (R)

| |

! Texas

| | (R)

| |

! Utah

| | (R)

| |

! Vermont

| | (I)

| | (D)

| |

! Virginia

| | (D)

| |

! Washington

| | (D)

| |

! West Virginia

| | (R)

| |

! Wisconsin

| | (D)

| | (R)

| |

! Wyoming

| | (R)

| |

References

External links

United States Senate class page (old)
Current class 1, (senate.gov)
Current class 2, (senate.gov)
Current class 3, (senate.gov)
A 2013 analysis of the partisan leanings of each class