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 . Senate, the winners of which would 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, the Democrats outperformed expectations and expanded the majority they had held since 2021, gaining a seat for a functioning 51–49 majority. Senators are divided into three classes whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every other year. All 34 Class 3 Senate seats, last elected in 2016, were up for election in 2022. Before the elections, Class 3 consisted of 14 Democrats and 20 Republicans. Special elections were concurrently held in California, to fill Vice President Kamala Harris's unexpired Senate term ending in 2022, and in Oklahoma, to fill the remaining four years of Jim Inhofe's unexpired term. Five Republican senators and one Democratic senator retired instead of seeking re-election; 15 Republicans and 13 Democrats ran for re-election. Before the elections, Democrats had held a majority in the Senate since January 20, 2021. There were 48 Democratic and two independent senators who caucused with them; Harris's tie-breaking vote as vice president gave Democrats control of the chamber. While Republicans appeared slightly favored in several competitive races, a red wave election did not materialize. Democrats gained a 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 . 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 . history in which multiple Senate races in the same year were contested between two Black nominees (Georgia and South Carolina).