US Senate Classes, a short and interesting history

[cotton1706]

The US Senate is divided into three classes, elected every second year, and in the last twenty years, certain classes have been better for republicans and others not.

The most recent class we saw was 2012. This is also the '94 class. Republicans gained 8 seats in a tidal wave election. Well, six years later, the democrats gained 4 seats, making the Senate 50-50 and then six years after that, they retook the US senate with 5 more seats and in 2012 they gained 2 (in ME and MA, whose senators voted with democrats anyway)

The 2010 class was also the class in 2004 when the republicans gained 4 seats and in both 1998 and 1992, the senate numbers did not change at all, stayed even, i.e. in a presidential election year (1992) and an off year election where republicans actually lost seats in the House, republicans in the Senate held their own.

The third class is the class for the current year, 2014. And in this class, the democrats won 8 seats in a tidal wave election (similar to 1994) but six years before that, the republicans retook the senate from the democrats (2002) and six years before that, in a presidential election year, republicans actually gained to senate seats (with the recent shutdown, etc.)

Bottom line, the 2012 class was historically good for the democrats ('00 +4, '06 +5, '12 +2), the 2014 class is historically good for the republicans ('96 +2, '02 +2 and '08 was an unprecedented wave year).

Historically, it's not surprising that republicans didn't gain any ground in 2012. But 2014 is looking very good!

[WayneS]

Dumb, dumber, dumbest?