The Green Papers: General Election 2004
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm 108th Congress
Senate Seats by State

This is a list of the current Senate seats and the incumbents occupying them.There are 34 Class 3 seats up for election in the year 2004.

There have been no deaths and no resignations in the 108th Senate.

  Alabama    Alaska    Arizona    Arkansas    California    Colorado    Connecticut    Delaware    Florida    Georgia    Hawaii    Idaho    Illinois    Indiana    Iowa    Kansas    Kentucky    Louisiana    Maine    Maryland    Massachusetts    Michigan    Minnesota    Mississippi    Missouri    Montana    Nebraska    Nevada    New Hampshire    New Jersey    New Mexico    New York    North Carolina    North Dakota    Ohio    Oklahoma    Oregon    Pennsylvania    Rhode Island    South Carolina    South Dakota    Tennessee    Texas    Utah    Vermont    Virginia    Washington    West Virginia    Wisconsin    Wyoming 

Legislative Links     Senate Electoral Classes

           

Alabama  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Alaska  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Arizona  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Arkansas  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

California  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Colorado  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Connecticut  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Delaware  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Florida  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Georgia  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Hawaii  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Idaho  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Illinois  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Indiana  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Iowa  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Kansas  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Kentucky  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Louisiana  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Maine  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Maryland  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Massachusetts  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Michigan  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Minnesota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Mississippi  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Missouri  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Montana  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Nebraska  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Nevada  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

New Hampshire  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

New Jersey  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

New Mexico  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

New York  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

North Carolina  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

North Dakota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Ohio  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Oklahoma  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Oregon  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Pennsylvania  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Rhode Island  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

South Carolina  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

South Dakota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Tennessee  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Texas  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Utah  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Vermont  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Independent, 1 Democrat

Class 1   Independent   Senator Jim Jeffords
First elected (as a Republican): 1988; re-elected: 1994, 2000. Switched to Independent 24 May 2001.
Seat up for election: Tuesday 7 November 2006

Virginia  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Washington  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

West Virginia  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Wisconsin  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats

Wyoming  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
 

Notes

Senate Class

Class 1 seats begin their new terms at noon on 3 January 2001... next regular election for these seats is in 2006.
Class 2 seats end their current terms at noon on 3 January 2003... next regular election for these seats is 2008.
Class 3 seats end their current terms at noon on 3 January 2005... next regular election for these seats is 2004.

For more information on Senate Classes refer to UNITED STATES SENATE: Electoral "Classes".


Article I, Section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States reads as follows:

"Immediately after [the Senate of the United States] shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year..."

Pursuant to this Constitutional provision, a three-Senator Committee was appointed by the Senate on 11 May 1789 to come up with a plan to carry out the requirements of that provision; this Committee reported to the Senate on 14 May 1789 a plan to divide the then 20 Senators (there were 10 of the 13 original States represented in the Senate at the time- each having 2 Senators: North Carolina and Rhode Island had yet to ratify the U.S. Constitution, while New York had so ratified but had failed to elect Senators as of that date) into the requisite three electoral Classes: under this plan, three groups of Senators (set up in such a way so as no State had its two Senators in the same group) were to be listed and the first Senator on each list (a list which was set up geographically north-to-south in the manner in which the Electoral Vote for President was counted before Congress at that time, so that two of the first Senators on these lists were from New Hampshire and the third was the first Senator in alphabetical order from Massachusetts) was to each blindly draw a piece of paper numbered either "1", "2" or "3" out of a box in the possession of the Secretary of the Senate. This plan being agreeable to the Senate and so approved, the drawing of lots in this manner was carried out the following day (15 May 1789)- such lot drawing ultimately determining that, to start with, Classes 1 and 2 were to have 7 Senators each and Class 3 was to have only 6 Senators.

When New York finally seated its two Senators during the ensuing Summer, there was another lot drawing (actually a double-lot drawing) on 28 July 1789 to determine the Classes for these seats: since one of the seats had to be Class 3 to make it equal in number to that of the other two Classes so far, the two New York Senators each blindly drew between two pieces of paper, one marked "3", the other which was blank- after this, there was a second lot drawing in which the New York Senator who had drawn the blank paper blindly drew again between two pieces of paper marked "1" and "2": he drew "1" so that New York would henceforth have Senators of electoral Classes 1 and 3.

When North Carolina seated its two Senators after ratifying the Constitution on 21 November 1789, there was yet another lot drawing (on 29 January 1790) in which North Carolina's two Senators each blindly drew between pieces of paper marked "2" and "3" (since there were now 12 States and, thus, 24 Senators: 24 being equally divisible by 3, there would now have to be 8 Senators in each of the three Classes to fulfill the Constitutional provision that, as nearly as was practicable, one third of the Senate be elected every second year).

After Rhode Island- the last of the 13 original States- finally ratified the Constitution on 29 May 1790 and subsequently seated its two Senators that Summer, there was yet one more lot drawing in the First Congress (on 25 June 1790) in which Rhode Island's two Senators blindly drew between pieces of paper marked "1", "2" and "3": one Senator drew "2", the other drew "1"- thereby determining electoral Classes 1 and 2 as those for the Senators from this State. When Vermont was admitted to the Union as the 14th state on 4 March 1791, there was again a double lot drawing as there had been for New York. From that day until this, whenever a new State has been admitted to the Union, these types of lot drawings (the type determined by the necessity of keeping the number of Senators in each electoral Class as close to one third as possible at the time of said lot drawing) between the new State's first Senators is held before the Senate to determine in just which of the three electoral Classes that State's Senate seats will be placed from then on.

 

 


  2004 General Election Home  
 
Electoral College
  Allocation     How Appointed     Meeting Place (13 December)  
  Duly Appointed Electors     Tabulation by Congress (6 January)  
  May Electors Defect?  
  THE "FAITHLESS ELECTORS" - Presidential Electors who have defected in the past  
 
  Contests to Watch and Polling Data  
 
2 November Poll Closing Times:   Alphabetically   --   Electoral College Chronologically  
2004 Primary/Runoff dates:   Alphabetically   --   Chronologically   --   Poll Closing Times  
....
  President (Details)     Governors     Senate     House  
....
  Senators by 'Class'   --   Senate Seats by Region and Subregion  
  Governors' by election 'cycle'   --   Governors by Region and Subregion  
....
  Senatorial Primaries at a Glance     Gubernatorial Primaries at a Glance  
....
  Open Governor's Chairs, Senate and House Seats (the incumbent is not running for re-election)  
  Governor's Chairs, Senate, and U.S. House Seats with no incumbent running for them  
  Uncontested Governor's Chairs, Senate, and U.S. House Seats (one candidate running for office)  
  Governor's Chairs, Senate, and U.S. House Seats with multiple incumbents running for them  
....
  2004 Partisan Composition by State  
....
  2004 Congressional Districts  
  Senate Electoral Classes  
....
  Relative Political Party Strength / Sectional and Regional Politics in Presidential Elections  
  1972-2000 Presidential Election State Voting Trends  
....
  Statewide Political Party Strength