2026 United States Senate elections

The 2026 United States Senate elections are scheduled to be held on November 3, 2026, with 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested in regular elections. In these elections, voters will elect candidates to six-year terms that begin on January 3, 2027, and expire on January 3, 2033.

Senators are divided into three classes whose terms are staggered, so that a different class is elected every two years. Class 2 senators were last elected in 2020 and are up for election in 2026. With the election of John Thune as leader of the Republican Conference, this will be the first election year since 2006 in which Senate Republicans are not led by Mitch McConnell. The Senate Democratic Conference has been led by Chuck Schumer since 2017.

Special elections have been scheduled in Ohio and Florida, following the resignation of JD Vance to become vice president and Marco Rubio's resignation to become United States secretary of state.

Two incumbent senators—Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas—lost renomination in their respective primaries. The last elected incumbent senator to lose renomination was Richard Lugar in 2012, and the last time multiple elected incumbent senators lost renomination in primaries was in 2010. The last incumbent senator to place no better than third in a primary before Cassidy was Hattie Caraway in 1944.

Two nominees—Graham Platner and Lindsey Graham—were replaced, respectively by a convention and a special primary, as their party's nominee in Maine and South Carolina. The last nominee to be replaced by a convention or special primary was John Walsh in 2014. The last time multiple nominees were replaced was in 2002, with Robert Torricelli of New Jersey and Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.

Partisan composition All 33 Class 2 Senate seats and two Class 3 seats are up for election in 2026. Class 2 currently consists of 20 Republicans and 13 Democrats. Democrats are defending two seats in states won by Donald Trump in 2024, in both cases by less than 3 percentage points: Michigan, where incumbent Gary Peters is not running for reelection; and Georgia, where the incumbent is Jon Ossoff. Michigan elected Democrat Elissa Slotkin to the Senate in 2024 by 0.3 percentage points. Georgia did not have a Senate election in 2024, although in the most recent Senate election, in 2022, Democrat Raphael Warnock won by three points in a runoff.

Five incumbent Democratic senators represent states won by Kamala Harris by single-digit margins in 2024: New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen, Minnesota's Tina Smith, Virginia's Mark Warner, New Jersey's Cory Booker, and New Mexico's Ben Ray Luján. Shaheen and Smith are not running for reelection. Susan Collins's seat in Maine is the only seat being defended by a Republican in a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024. Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina is retiring from the Senate in a state that Trump won by a single-digit margin in 2024.

The 2026 Senate map is considered favorable to Republicans, even though Democrats are defending 13 seats and Republicans 22. Most rating groups identify two Republican-held seats as highly competitive and three or four others as somewhat competitive. By contrast, Democrats must flip at least four seats to win a majority while defending two highly vulnerable seats and two others viewed as somewhat vulnerable. Pollsters have found Democrats' chances to flip the Senate to be improving due to nominees in states such as North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska running highly competitive campaigns, and because of Donald Trump's unpopularity amid the 2026 Iran war.

Summary results Seats Parties Total Democratic Independent Republican Last elections (2024) 45 2 53 100 Before these elections 45 2 53 100 Not up 32 2 31 65 Class 1 (2024→2030) 17 2 14 33 Class 3 (2022→2028) 15 17 32 Up 13 22 35 Class 2 (2020→2026) 13 20 33Special: Class 3 2 2 General election Incumbent retiring 4 7 11 TBD TBD TBD Incumbent running 9 13 22 TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD Special elections Appointee running 2 2 TBD TBD Result TBD TBD TBD TBD

Change in composition Each block represents one of the one hundred seats in the U.S. Senate. "D#" is a Democratic senator, "I#" is an Independent senator, and "R#" is a Republican senator. They are arranged so that the parties are separated and a majority is clear by crossing the middle.

Before the elections Each block indicates an incumbent senator's actions going into the election.

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D I I R R R Majority → R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

After the elections

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD I I D D TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD Majority TBD → TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R Key D Democratic R RepublicanI Independent, caucusing with Democrats

Gains and holds Retirements Eleven senators—four Democrats and seven Republicans—have announced they will not seek reelection. This is the most in a single election cycle since 1996, when thirteen senators chose not to run again.

StateSenator Age at end of term Assumed office Replaced by Alabama 72 2021 TBD Illinois 82 1997 TBD Iowa 56 2015 TBD Kentucky 84 1985 TBD Michigan 68 2015 TBD Minnesota 2018 TBD Montana 642015 TBD New Hampshire 79 2009 TBD North Carolina 66 2015 TBD Oklahoma 64 2026 TBD Wyoming 72 2021 TBD

Defeats Two Republicans sought reelection but lost in the primary election. StateSenator Age at end of term Assumed office Replaced by Louisiana 69 2015 TBD Texas 74 2002 TBD

Predictions

Multiple sites and political pundits have published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions have considered factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent was running for reelection) and the other candidates, and the state's partisan lean, reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating. The predictions typically assign ratings to each seat, indicating the predicted advantage that a party had in winning that seat. Most election predictors use: "tossup": no advantage "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean" "lean": slight advantage "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory

Constituency Incumbent Ratings State PVI Senator Lastelection Cook DDHQ Econ FPO Fox IE RCP Sabato Silver ST Alabama 60.10% R

| Alaska 53.90% R

| Arkansas 66.53% R

| Colorado 53.50% D

| Delaware 59.44% D

| Florida Appointed

| Georgia 50.62% D

| Idaho 62.62% R

| Illinois 54.93% D

| Iowa 51.74% R

| Kansas 53.22% R

| Kentucky 57.76% R

| Louisiana 59.32% R

| Maine 50.98% R

| Massachusetts 66.15% D

| Michigan 49.90% D

| Minnesota 48.74% D

| Mississippi 54.11% R

| Montana 55.01% R

| Nebraska 62.58% R

| New Hampshire 56.64% D

| New Jersey 57.23% D

| New Mexico 51.73% D

| North Carolina 48.69% R

| Ohio Jon Husted Appointed

| Oklahoma Appointed

| Oregon 56.91% D

| Rhode Island 66.48% D

| South Carolina Appointed

| South Dakota 65.74% R

| Tennessee 62.20% R

| Texas 53.51% R

| Virginia 55.99% D

| West Virginia 70.28% R

| Wyoming 72.85% R

Generic congressional ballot aggregate polls

Potentially competitive seats These are seats that polling and predictions currently have listed as at least somewhat close.

Republican incumbents with Democratic challengers One Republican-held senate seat, North Carolina, is considered competitive but favoring the Democrats. Former Governor Roy Cooper overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination for the open seat. Incumbent Republican senator Thom Tillis is retiring, with former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley becoming the Republican nominee, endorsed by Donald Trump.

Five Republican-held Senate races are expected to be highly competitive: Maine, Ohio, Alaska, Texas, Iowa. Incumbent Susan Collins is seeking reelection in Maine; it is regarded as competitive due to the state's blue lean, but Collins kept her seat during cycles favorable to Democrats nationally (2008 and 2020). Military veteran Graham Platner was the Democratic nominee in Maine until he withdrew from the race due to allegations of sexual assault. He was replaced by former Maine Senate president Troy Jackson. Incumbents in Ohio (Jon Husted) and Alaska (Dan Sullivan) are expected to have competitive races against former U.S. senator Sherrod Brown and former U.S. representative Mary Peltola, respectively. Both Brown and Peltola lost reelection in 2024. In Texas, incumbent Senator John Cornyn lost the Texas Senate Republican primary election to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is expected to have a competitive race against State Representative James Talarico. In Iowa, the incumbent Joni Ernst is not seeking reelection; the race to succeed Ernst between Republican U.S. representative Ashley Hinson and Democratic state representative Josh Turek is expected to be competitive.

Five other Republican-held Senate races are expected to favor Republicans over Democrats but are viewed as somewhat competitive by some predictors: Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kansas and Louisiana. In Louisiana, incumbent Senator Bill Cassidy was challenged by Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming and U.S. representative Julia Letlow, with Letlow winning the primary election, marking the first time an elected incumbent senator had lost their primary in any state since 2012 in Indiana. In Kansas, where Democrats have not won a Senate election since 1932, incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall faces Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, a pastor.

Republican incumbents with independent challengers Four Senate races with Republican incumbents have independent candidates as the main challengers to the Republicans: Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota. In Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota, the Democratic candidates dropped out of the race. In Nebraska, incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts is challenged by independent Dan Osborn, who ran against Republican Deb Fischer in the Class I race in 2024. Osborn was the most successful challenger of a Republican-held seat during the 2024 election cycle, losing by only 6.7 points, compared to Kamala Harris's loss by 20.5 points in Nebraska in the concurrent presidential election. In August 2026, the Nebraska Democratic Party endorsed Osborn.

Democratic incumbents The Democratic-held Senate race expected to be the most competitive is in Michigan, where senator Gary Peters has announced his retirement. The state has an even PVI score. Former US Representative for the 8th congressional district and 2024 U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers is the Republican nominee. Former Wayne County Health, Human, and Veterans Services Department Director Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee. In New Hampshire, where incumbent Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen is retiring, the race is also expected to be competitive. U.S. Representative Chris Pappas is the Democratic nominee and former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu is the Republican nominee. Sununu lost to Shaheen in 2008. Some polls have shown the race as a dead heat, with two August polls showing Sununu ahead.

2026 United States Senate elections

Bron en licentie