Classes of United States Senators
Encyclopedia : C : CL : CLA : Classes of United States Senators
The three classes of US Senators, each currently including 33 or 34 Senators (since Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, and until another state is admitted to statehood), are a means used by the US Senate for describing the schedules of Senate seats' elections, and of the expiration of the terms of office of the Senators holding the respective seats.
Constitutional division
The US Constitution specifies staggered 6-year terms for Senators, and there are special provisions for getting a new state into a situation that makes that pattern continue automatically:- around the time of the first federal elections, in 1788, each state appointed its two Senators for, respectively,
- * a two-year and a four-year term,
- * a four-year and a six-year term, or
- * a two-year and a six-year term;
- upon the expiration of a Senator's term of any length, someone starts a new six-year term as Senator (based on appointment in most states, until the Seventeenth Amendment required direct popular election of Senators);
- when a new state is admitted to the Union, its two Senators have terms that correspond to those of two different classes, among the three classes defined below;
- which two classes is determined by a scheme that keeps the three classes as close to the same size as possible, i.e., that avoids any class differing by more than one from the minimum-sized class.
Class I
Class I consists of- the 33 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2006, and whose terms end in January 2007; and
- earlier Senators with terms ending in 2001, 1995, 1989, 1983, 1977, 1971, 1965, 1959, and back to 1791; and
- some Senators who were successors to Senators who started two-year terms in 1789.
Class II
Class II consists of- the 33 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2008, and whose terms end in January 2009; and
- earlier Senators with terms that ended in 2003, 1997, 1991, 1991, 1985, 1979, 1973, 1967, 1961, and back to 1793; and
- some Senators who were successors to Senators who started four-year terms in 1789.
Class III
Class III consists of- the 34 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2010, and whose terms end in January 2011; and
- earlier Senators with terms that ended in 2005, 1999, 1993, 1987, 1981, 1975, 1969, 1963, and back to 1795; and
- some Senators who were successors to Senators who started six-year terms in 1789.
External links
- [US Senate class page (old)]
- [Current Class I, (senate.gov)]
- [Current Class II, (senate.gov)]
- [Current Class III, (senate.gov)]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.