The Green Papers: Midterm Election 2002
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm 107th Congress
Senate Seats by State

This is a list of the current Senate seats and the incumbents occupying them. There are 34 seats up for election in the year 2002.

There has been two deaths and 1 resignation in the 107th Senate:

  • Alaska Class 3: United Staes Senator Frank H. Murkowski (Republican), elected Governor of Alaska on 5 November 2002, was sworn in at noon on 2 December 2002 (Article III, section 4 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska) thus leaving his seat vacant. As Governor, he will name an interim replacement to complete the remaining two years of the State's "Class 3" Senate seat.
  • Minnesota Class 2: United States Senator Paul Wellstone (Democrat), along with his wife Sheila and his daughter Marcia- as well as three members of his staff and two crew members- were all killed in the crash of a King Air B200 turbo-prop airplane in St. Louis County, Minnesota on Friday, October 25, 2002. Mr. Wellstone was the Democratic nominee for re-election to his Class 2 Senate seat in the upcoming 5 November 2002 Midterm Election. The Senator's name will not remain on the General Election ballot but will be replaced by a new candidate as per Minnesota Election Law .
  • Missouri Class 1: On 7 November 2000, the Missouri "Class 1" seat was won by deceased Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan who died in a plane crash on Monday 16 October 2000. On Tuesday 24 October 2000 acting Democratic Governor Roger Wilson announced that he would appoint the former Governor's widow, Jean Carnahan, to fill the vacant Senate Seat should the deceased Governor win the election.

One Senator switched parties during the 107th Senate:

  • Vermont Class 1: On Thursday 24 May 2001 Senator James Jeffords (Republican of Vermont) announced "I will leave the Republican Party and will become an Independent". Jeffords action, when it become official, shifts the political party breakdown in the Senate from 50 Republicans / 50 Democrats to 49 Republicans / 50 Democrats / 1 Independent.

  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 

Senate Links     Senate Electoral Classes


Alabama  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Jeff Sessions
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - Unopposed, 4 June 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Susan Parker
  Candidate Libertarian Jeff Allen
  Elected Republican Senator Jeff Sessions

Alaska  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Vacancy

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Ted Stevens
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
Appointed by Governor Walter J. Hickel (Republican) on 24 December 1968, to fill vacancy caused by the death of Senator E. L. Bartlett (Democrat): 11 December 1968; elected to finish out the term in a Special Election: 1970; elected to first full term: 1972; re-elected: 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996; 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 27 August 2002 Primary
  Candidate Alaska Independence Jim Dore
  Candidate Democrat Frank J. Vondersaar
  Candidate Green James L. Sykes
  Candidate Libertarian Leonard J. "Len" Karpinski
  Elected Republican Senator Ted Stevens

Arkansas  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Tim Hutchinson
First elected: 1996
[also served in U.S. House- elected: 1992, 1994]
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 21 May 2002 Primary
  Elected Democrat Mark Pryor
(Arkansas Attorney General)
  Candidate Republican Senator Tim Hutchinson

Colorado  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Wayne Allard
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected 2002
[also served in U.S. House- elected: 1990, 1992, 1994]
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 13 August 2002 - Primary
  Candidate Constitution Doug "Day Horse" Campbell
  Candidate Democrat Tom Strickland
  Candidate Independent John Heckman
  Candidate Libertarian Rick Stanley
  Elected Republican Senator Wayne Allard
  Candidate Write-In Gary Cooper

Idaho  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Larry E. Craig
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1990; re-elected: 1996; 2002
[also served in U.S. House- elected: 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988]
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 28 May 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Alan Blinken
  Candidate Libertarian Donovan Bramwell
  Elected Republican Senator Larry E. Craig

Kansas  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Pat Roberts
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
[also served in U.S. House- elected: 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994]
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 6 August 2002 Primary
  Candidate Libertarian Steven A. Rosile
  Candidate Reform George Cook
  Elected Republican Senator Pat Roberts

Kentucky  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1984; re-elected: 1990, 1996, 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 28 May 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Lois Combs Weinberg
The Democratic race for the nomination was Lois Combs Weinberg (50.1%) to Tom Barlow (49.9%). On 14 June the state board of elections certified the vote. Mr. Barlow has endorsed Ms. Weinberg.
  Elected Republican Senator Mitch McConnell
  Candidate Write-In Andrew Ellis Overby, Sr.
  Candidate Write-In Ralph H. Stewart

Maine  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Susan M. Collins
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 11 June 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Chellie Pingree
  Elected Republican Senator Susan M. Collins

Mississippi  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Thad Cochran
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1978; re-elected: 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 4 June 2002 Primary
  Withdrawn Democrat Steven Douglas Turney - withdrew
The Democratic race for the Senate nomination did not appear on the 4 June primary ballot in Yazoo County. Mississippi's Democratic Party chairman apparently recommended certification of the result [Steven Douglas Turney (30,809 votes - 52.23%); James W. "Bootie" Hunt (28,176 votes - 47.77%)] as-is on 12 June. Some 3700 voters cast ballots in Yazoo County in the primary.
  Candidate Reform Shawn O'Hara
Running under the banners of "Reform Party of Mississippi" and "Independent Candidate".
  Elected Republican Senator Thad Cochran

Nebraska  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 14 May 2002 Primary
  Candidate By Petition Phil Chase
  Candidate Democrat Charlie A. Matulka
  Candidate Libertarian John J. Graziano
  Elected Republican Senator Chuck Hagel

New Hampshire  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Robert C. "Bob" Smith
First elected: 1990; re-elected: 1996
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Lost Primary - 10 September 2002
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat Governor Jeanne Shaheen
announced 6 February 2002
  Candidate Green (Aaron Michael Rizzio - pending)
Listed as Independent by SoS
  Candidate Independent (David Gosselin - pending)
  Candidate Libertarian Ken Blevens
  Elected Republican Congressman John E. Sununu
Congressman CD 1

New Mexico  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Pete V. Domenici
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1972; re-elected: 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 4 June 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Gloria Tristani
  Elected Republican Senator Pete V. Domenici

North Carolina  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Jesse Helms
First elected: 1972; re-elected: 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Open Seat - Vountary Retirement
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat Erskine B. Bowles
  Candidate Libertarian Sean Newton Haugh
  Candidate Natural Law (Norio Kushi - pending)
Mr. Kushi is challenging North Carolina ballot access laws which require smaller third parties to obtain 50,000 signatures in order to appear on the ballot. For more information http://www.mdcnc.org/page2.php.
  Elected Republican Elizabeth H. Dole
  Candidate Write-In Paul G. DeLaney

Oklahoma  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator James M. Inhofe
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected to fill out the term in a Special Election: 1994 [held to fill the impending vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator David L. Boren (Democrat): effective, 15 November 1994 but announced before the 1994 Oklahoma state/local Primary in August 1994, allowing for this Special Election to take place; elected to a full term: 1996; re-elected 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 27 August 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat David Walters
No candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the 27 August Primary. A 17 September runnoff election was held between the 2 highest vote getters: David Walters (49%) and Tom Boettcher (34%). 27 August primary candidates not proceeding to the runoff: Jim Rogers (10%); George Gentry (7%).
  Candidate Independent James Germalic
  Elected Republican Senator James M. Inhofe

Oregon  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Gordon H. Smith
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 21 May 2002 Primary
  Candidate Constitution Lon Mabon
  Candidate Democrat Bill Bradbury
  Candidate Libertarian Dan Fitzgerald
  Elected Republican Senator Gordon H. Smith

South Carolina  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 1 Republican, 1 Democrat

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator J. Strom Thurmond
First elected as an Independent candidate to this seat: 1954 (the only United States Senator ever elected solely by write-in vote: the write-in campaign was caused by Thurmond's failure to win endorsement by the state Democratic Party [Senator Burnet R. Maybank (Democrat) had died: 1 September 1954 but had been previously renominated for re-election to the seat in the 13 July 1954 primary; Thurmond's campaign was a protest against the Party hierarchy, and not the Party rank-and-file, replacing Maybank as the Democrat nominee]); resigned 4 April 1956 in order to contest for the Democrat nomination for the Senate in a Special Primary that Summer; elected as a Democrat to finish out the term in a Special Election held to fill vacancy caused by his own resignation: 1956; re-elected as a Democrat: 1960; changed Party affiliation to Republican: 16 September 1964; re-elected as a Republican: 1966, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Open Seat - Voluntary Retirement
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Constitution Ted Adams
  Candidate Democrat Alex Sanders
  Candidate Libertarian Victor Kocher
  Elected Republican Congressman Lindsey Graham

Tennessee  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Fred Thompson
First elected to finish out the term in a Special Election: 1994 [held to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Albert A. Gore, Jr. (Democrat): 1 January 1993- which Harlan Mathews (Democrat) had been appointed by Governor Ned R. McWherter (Democrat) to fill, 2 January 1993]; elected to a full term: 1996
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Open Seat - Voluntary Retirement
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat Congressman Bob Clement
  Candidate Independent Wesley M. Baker
  Candidate Independent Karl Stanley Davidson
  Candidate Independent Connie Gammon
Tennessee Independent Party
  Candidate Independent John Jay Hooker
John Jay Hooker is running as an Independent candidate for Governor, Senator, and Congressman CD 5.
  Candidate Independent Harold Gary Keplinger
  Candidate Independent Basil J. Marceaux, I
Basil J. Marceaux is running as an Independent candidate for Governor and Senator.
  Elected Republican Lamar Alexander

Texas  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Phil Gramm
First elected: 1984; re-elected: 1990, 1996
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Open Seat - Voluntary Retirement
 ** Open Seat (no incumbent) **
  Candidate Democrat Ron Kirk
  Candidate Green Roy H. Williams
  Candidate Independent (Eric Lawrence Kirkland - pending)
  Candidate Libertarian Scott Lanier Jameson
  Elected Republican John Cornyn
  Candidate Write-In James .W. Wright

Virginia  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator John W. Warner
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1978; re-elected: 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 11 June 2002 Nominee
  Candidate Independent Jacob G. Hornberger, Jr.
  Candidate Independent Nancy B. Spannaus
  Elected Republican Senator John W. Warner

Wyoming  6-year term
Partisan Composition: 2 Republicans

Class 2
Seat up for election
Republican Senator Michael B. Enzi
• Re-elected 5 November 2002
First elected: 1996; re-elected: 2002
Seat up for election: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Renominated - 20 August 2002 Primary
  Candidate Democrat Joyce Jansa Corcoran
  Elected Republican Senator Michael B. Enzi
 

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 2002.
Class 3 seats end their current terms at noon on 3 January 2005... next regular election for these seats is 2004.

For more information review 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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