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
  Candidate Democrat 595,018 32.35% Wayne Sowell
Total 1,839,066 100.00%  

Alaska  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 140,424 45.55% Former Alaskan Governor Tony Knowles
Total 308,315 100.00%  

Arizona  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 404,507 20.62% Stuart Starky
Total 1,961,677 100.00%  

Arkansas  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 580,973 55.90% Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln
Total 1,039,349 100.00%  

California  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 6,955,728 57.71% Senator Barbara Boxer
Total 12,053,295 100.00%  

Colorado  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Elected Democrat 1,081,188 51.30% Ken Salazar
Total 2,107,472 100.00%  

Connecticut  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 945,347 66.35% Senator Christopher J. Dodd
Total 1,424,726 100.00%  

Florida  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 3,590,201 48.32% former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor
Total 7,429,894 100.00%  

Georgia  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 1,287,690 39.98% Congressman Denise L. Majette
Since no candidate received 50% of the vote in the 20 July Primary, the two leading candidates moved on to a Tuesday 10 August 2004 run off: in the original Primary, Congressman Denise L. Majette (CD 4) (41%) led W. Cliff Oxford (21%).
Total 3,220,981 100.00%  

Hawaii  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 313,629 75.51% Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Total 415,347 100.00%  

Illinois  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Elected Democrat 3,597,456 69.97% Barack Obama
Total 5,141,520 100.00%  

Indiana  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
  Elected Democrat 1,496,976 61.65% Senator Evan Bayh
Total 2,428,233 100.00%  

Iowa  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican
  Candidate Democrat 412,365 27.88% Arthur "Art" Small
Total 1,479,228 100.00%  

Kansas  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 310,337 27.49% Lee Jones
Total 1,129,022 100.00%  

Kentucky  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 850,855 49.34% Daniel Mongiardo
Total 1,724,362 100.00%  

Louisiana  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 542,150 29.34% Congressman Chris John
Congressman CD 7
  Candidate Democrat 275,821 14.92% John Kennedy
  Candidate Democrat 47,222 2.56% State Representative Arthur Morrell
  Candidate Democrat 12,289 0.66% Sam Houston Melton, Jr.
Total 1,848,056 100.00%  

Maryland  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 1,504,691 64.80% Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
Total 2,321,931 100.00%  

Missouri  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 1,158,261 42.80% State Treasurer Nancy Farmer
Total 2,706,402 100.00%  

Nevada  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
  Elected Democrat 494,805 61.08% Senator Harry Reid
Total 810,068 100.00%  

New Hampshire  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 221,549 33.72% Doris "Granny D." Haddock
Total 657,086 100.00%  

New York  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 4,769,824 64.04% Senator Chuck E. Schumer
Endorsements: Independence, Working Families
Total 7,447,818 100.00%  

North Carolina  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 1,632,527 47.02% Erskine Bowles
Total 3,472,082 100.00%  

North Dakota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 212,143 68.28% Senator Byron L. Dorgan
Total 310,696 100.00%  

Ohio  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 1,961,171 36.15% State Senator Eric D. Fingerhut
Total 5,425,823 100.00%  

Oklahoma  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 596,750 41.24% Congressman Brad Carson
Congressman CD 2
Total 1,446,846 100.00%  

Oregon  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
  Elected Democrat 1,128,728 63.39% Senator Ron Wyden
Total 1,780,550 100.00%  

Pennsylvania  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 2,334,126 41.99% Congressman Joseph M. Hoeffel
Congressman Hoeffel represents CD 13
Total 5,559,105 100.00%  

South Carolina  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat 704,384 44.10% State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum
Total 1,597,221 100.00%  

South Dakota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Candidate Democrat 193,340 49.42% Senator Tom Daschle
Total 391,188 100.00%  

Utah  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans
  Candidate Democrat 258,955 28.40% R. Paul Van Dam
Total 911,726 100.00%  

Vermont  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 1 Independent, 1 Democrat
  Elected Democrat 216,972 70.63% Senator Patrick Leahy
Total 307,208 100.00%  

Washington  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 1,549,708 54.98% Senator Patty Murray
Total 2,818,651 100.00%  

Wisconsin  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democrats
  Elected Democrat 1,632,697 55.35% Senator Russ Feingold
Total 2,949,743 100.00%  
 

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.

 

 


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