The U.S. Senate: Members, Elections, and Every 2026 Senate Race

The U.S. Senate is the upper chamber of Congress. Each of the 50 states elects two senators, for a total of 100 voting members. The office is established by Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution and was made directly elective by the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

The chamber shares legislative authority with the House of Representatives — both must pass identical text before a bill can be sent to the President. Beyond ordinary lawmaking, the body has unique constitutional roles: it confirms federal judges and senior executive-branch nominees by majority vote, ratifies treaties by a two-thirds vote, and serves as the trial body in impeachment proceedings (with a two-thirds vote required for conviction).

Senators are not term-limited. Vacancies are filled either by a special election or, in most states, by a temporary gubernatorial appointment pending the next general election. The Vice President serves as the constitutional president of the chamber and casts a tie-breaking vote when the body is evenly split.

Senators serve six-year terms, and the chamber is divided into three classes so that one-third of the body stands for election every two years. The 2026 cycle is a Class II year: roughly 33 of the 100 seats are on the ballot. The exact list of states with a Senate race in 2026 follows the Class II rotation, plus any seats filled by special election.

The Constitution requires senators to be at least 30 years old, U.S. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the state they represent on Election Day. There is no constitutional cap on the number of terms a senator may serve.

Statewide Senate races are decided by plurality in most states; a handful (Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi notable among them) run majority-required general elections with runoff rounds when no candidate clears 50 percent.

The chamber today seats two senators from each state — 50 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 3 independents who caucus with the Democrats (composition figures update as the Office of the Clerk publishes them). Republicans hold a slim majority; the 2026 Class II map is dominated by states they last won in 2020, with a handful of competitive battlegrounds that both parties will spend heavily on.

The Candidate tracks every FEC-filed challenger and incumbent for the 2026 cycle. Filings open more than two years before Election Day, so the directory grows steadily as candidates declare. Compare any two side-by-side, filter by state or party, and read the neutral platform notes we maintain on every issue we cover.