United States Senate elections, 2006

United States Senate elections, 2006

2004 ← November 7, 2006 → 2008

Class 1 (33 of the 100) seats in the U.S. 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 44 55 Seats won 49 49 Seat change 5 6 Popular vote 32,344,708 25,437,934 Percentage 53.2% 41.8% Swing 2.4% 3.5% Seats up 15 17 Races won 22 9   Third party   Party Independent Last election 1 Seats before 1 Seats after 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 735,733 Seats up 1 Races won 2

Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican hold   Independent gain   Independent hold

Majority Leader before election Bill Frist Republican Elected Majority Leader Harry Reid Democratic

Bill Frist
Republican

Harry Reid
Democratic

The United States Senate elections, 2006 were held on November 7, 2006, with all 33 Class 1 Senate seats being contested. The term of office for those elected in 2006 ran from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2013. Prior to the election, the Republican Party controlled 55 of the 100 Senate seats.

The Senate elections were part of the Democratic sweep of the 2006 elections, in which Democrats made numerous gains and no Congressional or gubernatorial seat held by a Democrat was won by a Republican.

Six Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats:

Incumbent Democrat Joe Lieberman (Connecticut) lost the Democratic primary, but won re-election as an independent. Democrats kept their two open seats in Minnesota and Maryland, and Republicans held onto their lone open seat in Tennessee. In Vermont, Bernie Sanders, an independent, was elected to the seat left open by independent Senator Jim Jeffords. In the 2006 election, two new female Senators (Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar) were elected to seats previously held by men. This brought the total number of female senators to an all-time high of 16.