The Green Papers: 2012 General Election
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm 112th Congress
Senate Seats by State

This is a list of the current Senate seats and the incumbents occupying them. 33 Senate Seats are up for election on 6 November 2012.

There have been 1 death, 1 resignation, and 0 changes re: party breakdown in the 112th Senate.

  • Senator John Eric Ensign (Republican, Nevada Class 1) resigned on 3 May 2011 following an ethics violation.
  • Congressman Dean Heller (Republican, Nevada CD 2) was appointed to Nevada's Class 1 U.S. Senate Seat on 3 May 2011.
  • Senator Daniel K. Inouye (Democratic, Hawaii Class 3) passed away on 17 December 2012 due to a respiratory illness.
  • Lieutenant Governor Brian E. Schatz (Democratic) was appointed to Hawaii's Class 3 U.S. Senate Seat on 26 December 2012.

  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

           

Minnesota  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democratic
  Candidate Independence 73,539 2.59% Stephen Williams
FEC S6MN00382
Total 2,843,221 100.00%  

New York  6-year term. No Term Limit. Senate Electoral Classes
Partisan Composition: 2 Democratic
  Elected Democratic; Independence; Working Families 4,822,330 67.59% Senator Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand
FEC S0NY00410; 26 Nov 12; Tot $15,692,653; Dsb $14,077,279
Total 7,135,164 100.00%  

Political Parties    Parties appear in parenthesis and italics when a candidate receives the endorsement of a given Party and/or official sources indicate a candidate's association with a particular Party but only where the Party in question does not appear on the actual ballot as such.

Major Parties
  Democratic
  Democratic-Farmer Labor
  Democratic-Nonpartisan League
  Republican
Major Third Parties
  Constitution
  Green
  Libertarian
  Reform
Other Third Parties
  America First
  Common Sense
  Conservative
  Democratic/Republican
  Grassroots
  Independence
  Independent American
  Independent Party of Connecticut
  Independent Party Of Delaware
  Justice Party
  Liberty Union
  Marijuana
  Mountain
  Natural Law
  Progressive
  Socialist Party USA
  Socialist Workers Party
  U.S. Taxpayers
  Workers World
  Working Families
  Wyoming Country
Independents
  Independent
  Independent Democrat
  No Party Affiliation
  Nonpartisan
  Unaffiliated
Write-in/Scattered/otherwise not readily classifiable
  None of these candidates
  Scattering
  Write-in
 

Notes

Candidates for office appear on this page in italics where 'The Green Papers' does not yet have independent confirmation from a legal election authority that the person has been officially certified to appear on the ballot.


"FEC" indicates the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Campaign Finance Summary.

When available, we post each candidate's FEC identification number, the date of their most recently filed Report of Receipts and Disbursements, their "Tot" [Total Receipts (contributions received or what came in: FEC Form 3, Line 16, Column B)] and their "Dsb" [Total Disbursements (expenditures or what was spent: FEC Form 3, Line 23, Column B)]. A link is provided to the Federal Election Commission's Summary Report for those who might wish to explore the details.

If a candidate raises or spends $5,000 or less, he or she is not subject to FEC reporting requirements.


Senate Class

Class 1 seats end their current terms at noon on 3 January 2013... next regular election for these seats is in 6 November 2012.
Class 2 seats end their current terms at noon on 3 January 2015... next regular election for these seats is 4 November 2014.
Class 3 seats begin their current terms at noon on 3 January 2011... next regular election for these seats is 8 November 2016.

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.


 


  2012 General Election Home  
 
  President Popular Vote and FEC Total Receipts by Party  
  113th U.S. Senate Popular Vote and FEC Total Receipts by Party  
  Gubernatorial Popular Vote by Party  
  113th U.S. House Popular Vote and FEC Total Receipts by Party  
  Close Contests Summary - Decision by 2% or less  
  Contests Where No Candidate Received a Majority  
 
2012 Primaries and Runoffs for Statewide offices/Congress
  Alphabetically   --   Chronologically   --   Poll Closing Times  
....
General Election Poll Closing Times
  Alphabetically   --   Chronologically  
....
  Polling Hours  
....
  President (Details)     Governors     Senate     House  
....
  Senators by 'Class'  
  Governors by election 'cycle'  
....
  Gubernatorial Primaries at a Glance   --   Senatorial 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  
  Governor's Chairs, Senate, and U.S. House Seats with only one major party candidate running for office  
....
  2012 Partisan Composition by State  
....
  Political Parties  
....
  Senate Electoral Classes  
....
  Explanation of the Debate Scoring System  
....
History
  Political Party Floor Leaders in the Congress of the United States  
  Dates of DIRECT PRIMARY Elections re: Major Party Nominations for Statewide and/or Federal Office  
  Length of Terms of Office of STATE Governors throughout American History  
....
  Dates of U.S. Presidential Election "Events": 1789 to present  
....
Electoral College
  How Appointed  
  Meeting Place  
  Duly Appointed Presidential Electors  
  Tabulation Joint Session of Congress  
  Faithless Electors  
....
  Presidential Candidates  
....
  (downloads)