2016 United States Senate Elections (Santorum in the House)

The 2016 United States Senate Elections were held on November 8, 2016. The presidential election, House elections, 14 gubernatorial elections, and many state and local elections were held on the same date. In the elections, 34 of the 100 seats (all Class 3 Senate seats) were contested in regular elections.

The winners will serve six-year terms until January 3, 2023. Class 3 was last up for election in 2010, when Republicans won a net gain of six seats.

In 2016, Democrats defended 10 seats, while Republicans defended 24 seats. Republicans, having won a majority of seats in the Senate in 2014, held the Senate majority with 54 seats before this election. Although Democrats made a net gain of two seats and did not lose any of their seats, Republicans retained control of the Senate for the 115th United States Congress. The two Democratic gains came from the defeats of incumbents Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire and Mark Kirk in Illinois by Democrats Maggie Hassan and Tammy Duckworth, respectively.

Despite Republicans retaining control of the Senate, 2016 marked the first time since 1986 where Democrats made a net gain of seats in Class 3. This election marked the first time since 2000 in which the party opposite to the elected or reelected presidential candidate made net gains in the Senate, with both cases involving the election of a Republican president and the Democrats making gains in the Senate.

With the retirement of Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer became the Democratic leader after the elections, while Mitch McConnell retained his position as Senate Majority Leader.