2010 United States Senate elections

2010 United States Senate elections

← 2008 November 2, 2010[a] 2012 →

37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate
51 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Harry Reid Mitch McConnell
Party Democratic Republican
Leader's seat Nevada Kentucky
Seats before 57 41
Seats after 51 47
Seat change Decrease 6 Increase 6
Popular vote 32,405,787[1] 34,616,463
Percentage 45.1% 48.2%
Seats up 19 18
Races won 13 24

  Third party
 
Party Independent
Seats before 2[b]
Seats after 2[c]
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 155,846
Percentage 0.2%
Seats up 0
Races won 0

2010 United States Senate special election in Delaware2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois2010 United States Senate special election in New York2010 United States Senate special election in West Virginia2010 United States Senate election in Alabama2010 United States Senate election in Alaska2010 United States Senate election in Arizona2010 United States Senate election in Arkansas2010 United States Senate election in California2010 United States Senate election in Colorado2010 United States Senate election in Connecticut2010 United States Senate election in Florida2010 United States Senate election in Georgia2010 United States Senate election in Hawaii2010 United States Senate election in Idaho2010 United States Senate elections in Illinois2010 United States Senate election in Indiana2010 United States Senate election in Iowa2010 United States Senate election in Kansas2010 United States Senate election in Kentucky2010 United States Senate election in Louisiana2010 United States Senate election in Maryland2010 United States Senate election in Missouri2010 United States Senate election in Nevada2010 United States Senate election in New Hampshire2010 United States Senate election in New York2010 United States Senate election in North Carolina2010 United States Senate election in North Dakota2010 United States Senate election in Ohio2010 United States Senate election in Oklahoma2010 United States Senate election in Oregon2010 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania2010 United States Senate election in South Carolina2010 United States Senate election in South Dakota2010 United States Senate election in Utah2010 United States Senate election in Vermont2010 United States Senate election in Washington2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
Results of the elections: (excl. Massachusetts)
     Democratic hold
     Republican hold      Republican gain
     No election
Rectangular inset (N.Y.): both seats up for election

Majority Leader before election

Harry Reid
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Harry Reid
Democratic

The 2010 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 2010, from among the United States Senate's 100 seats. A special election was held on January 19, 2010, for a mid-term vacancy in Massachusetts. 34 of the November elections were for 6-year terms to the Senate's Class 3, while other 3 were special elections to finish incomplete terms. Those 37 November elections featured 19 incumbent Democrats (7 of whom retired or were defeated in the primary) and 18 incumbent Republicans (8 of whom retired or were defeated in the primary).

After the 2008 elections, the Senate was composed of 58 Democrats, 40 Republicans, and 2 independents who caucused with the Democrats. However, in a January 2010 special election, Republicans picked up a seat in Massachusetts thereby reducing Democrats' majority to 57 seats.

Republicans won 4 seats held by retiring Democrats and also defeated 2 incumbent Democrats, for a Republican net gain of 6 seats. This was the first time since 1994 that Republicans successfully defended all of their own seats. This was also the fourth consecutive election of Class 3 senators where Democrats failed to gain seats. Despite the Republican gains, the Democrats retained a majority of the Senate with 51 seats plus the 2 Independents who caucused with them, compared to the 47 Republican seats. As of 2023, this was the last time Republicans won U.S. Senate seats in Illinois and New Hampshire.


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