2010 US Senate Elections

The 2010 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 2010, from among the United States Senate's 100 seats. A special election was held on January 19, 2010, for a mid-term vacancy in Massachusetts. Thirty-four of the November elections were for six-year terms to the Senate's Class 3, while other three were special elections to finish incomplete terms. Those 37 November elections featured 19 incumbent Democrats (seven of whom retired or were defeated in the primary) and 18 incumbent Republicans (eight of whom retired or were defeated in the primary).

After the 2008 elections, the Senate was composed of 58 Democrats, 40 Republicans, and 2 independents who caucused with the Democrats. Despite losing the popular vote, Democrats retained control of the Senate after the election.

Republicans won four seats held by retiring Democrats and also defeated two incumbent Democrats, for a Republican net gain of six seats. This was the first time since 1994 that Republicans successfully defended all of their own seats. This was also the fourth consecutive election of Class 3 senators where Democrats failed to gain seats, and the third consecutive midterm election held in a president's first term where Republicans picked up seats. Despite the Republican gains, the Democrats retained a majority of the Senate with 51 seats plus the two independents who caucused with them, compared to the 47 Republican seats.

Delaware (special)
{{Election box begin no change | title     = 2010 United States Senate special election in Delaware {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change | party     = Democratic Party (US) | candidate = Chris Coons | votes     = | percentage = }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change | party     = Republican Party (US) | candidate = Christine O'Donnell | votes     = | percentage = }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change | party     = Libertarian Party (US) | candidate = James Rash | votes     = | percentage = }}

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Louisiana
Incumbent Republican David Vitter won re-election to a second term. Some speculated that Vitter's re-election might have become complicated, by the prostitution scandal revealed in 2007, but he continued to lead in aggregate polling against potential opponents.

Melançon heavily criticized Vitter for prostitution sex scandal. Vitter released television advertising criticizing Melancon for his support for Obama's stimulus package and his support for amnesty for illegal immigrants. Melancon claimed "In August, Melancon challenged Vitter to a series of five live, televised town hall-style debates across the state. In his 2004 campaign for Senate, Vitter committed to five live, televised debates. Since Melancon issued the challenge, Vitter and Melancon have been invited to a total of seven live, televised debates. Vitter only accepted invitations to debates hosted by WWL-TV and WDSU-TV, both in New Orleans."

Maryland
Incumbent Democrat Barbara Mikulski won re-election to a fifth term.

Republican nominee Eric Wargotz, Queen Anne's County, Maryland Commission President and physician, compared Mikulski to a dinosaur by calling her a political "insidersaurus" for being in Washington for over thirty years  An ad showed a hammer hitting a brick wall, breaking it down and citing criticisms of Mikulski's record as a U.S. Senator. Mikulski released advertisements emphasizing education and job creation. Despite Wargotz's limited campaign and resources he received the highest percentage of votes against Mikulski as an incumbent U.S. Senator

Massachusetts (special)
A special election was held January 19, 2010 to fill the Class 1 seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013. It was won by Republican Scott Brown.

Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy had died August 25, 2009. Governor of Massachusetts appointed Democrat Paul Kirk September 24, 2009 to continue the term pending this special election, in which Kirk was not a candidate.

The election was viewed by conservatives outside of Massachusetts as a referendum against President Barack Obama. But Brown stated that he didn't believe that it was a referendum on Obama. Although Democrats would retain control of both Houses of Congress until January 2011, Brown's victory greatly affected their political plans, most notably for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, though the legislation was signed into law two months later. Brown became the first Republican to win this seat since the Democrats captured it in 1952, and as of 2024, this is the last Senate election in Massachusetts won by a Republican.

Missouri
Incumbent Republican Kit Bond retired instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican nominee Roy Blunt won the open seat.

Democrat Robin Carnahan and national Democrats heavily criticized Blunt for his support of bailouts, calling him "Bailout Blunt." Blunt criticized her for supporting President Obama's stimulus package, the cap-and-trade energy bill, and the health care reform bill.

Nevada
Incumbent Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid won re-election to a fifth term.

Reid was initially considered vulnerable, with the non-partisan Cook Political Report rating the election as a toss-up and the Rothenberg Political Report rating the state as toss-up. A June 9, 2010, Rasmussen Reports post-primary poll showed Angle leading incumbent Senator Harry Reid by a margin of 50% to 39%. However, a July 2010 poll showed Senator Reid leading Angle by 7 points, following nationwide attention to some of Angle's positions, as well as the endorsement of Reid by prominent Republicans. The change of margin, 18% in less than a month, is the largest in Senate elections history. On July 28, 2010, Rasmussen Reports moved the race from toss-up to leans Democratic. Later, it moved back to toss-up. Despite Angle leading by three points in the polls the days leading up to the election, Reid defeated her by 5.74%, even in her own county, Washoe County. Reid also secured huge numbers out of the Democratic stronghold of Clark County, which covers the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area.

New Hampshire
Incumbent Republican Judd Gregg retired instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican nominee Kelly Ayotte won the open seat by over 23 points, after winning a close party primary. New Hampshire trended Democratic in the 2006 and 2008 elections, with Republican incumbents losing both of the state's House seats and its other Senate seat to Democrats, but polling conducted in late December 2008 showed Gregg defeating both of the state's U.S. Representatives in a hypothetical match-up.

Democrat Paul Hodes called himself a fiscal conservative, which was mocked by Republican Kelly Ayotte in a TV ad. Hodes was criticized for supporting President Obama's Economic Recovery package, a carbon energy tax, and Affordable Care Act. Hodes criticized Ayotte for numerous controversies. One ad was questioned Ayotte's honesty in dealing with the Lakes Region Ponzi scheme which defrauded investors of almost $80 million.

New York
There were two elections, due to the resignation of Hillary Clinton in January 2009 to become the U.S. Secretary of State. Both senate races, along with the New York gubernatorial election, one with a vulnerable Democratic incumbent and the other an open race, respectively, was believed to lead major New York Republicans to gravitate towards them rather than challenge the popular Schumer. As it happened, however, New York Republicans had difficulty drawing top-tier candidates to any of the three races.

New York (regular)
Incumbent Democrat Chuck Schumer won re-election to a third term.

New York (special)
Governor David Paterson had appointed Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand to serve as United States Senator this special election, replacing former Senator Hillary Clinton, who resigned to serve as U.S. Secretary of State in the Barack Obama administration. The winner of the special election would complete the term ending in January 2013. Due to this special election, this was the first time since the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913 that all of New York's six statewide offices were up for popular election on the same date.

Gillibrand claimed to be an independent thinker and takes a back seat to no one. She also released television advertising touting her experience as from upstate New York. DioGuardi criticized Gillibrand's recent photos in Vogue magazine.

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North Carolina
Incumbent Republican Richard Burr won re-election to a second term. Burr was the first incumbent to win re-election for this seat since Sam Ervin's last re-election in 1968. Burr's 54.8% also represented the highest vote share a North Carolina Republican received since the state began directly electing its senators.

This Senate seat was unfavorable to incumbents over the past several decades. No person elected to this seat was re-elected since Sam Ervin in 1968. His successor, Democrat Robert Burren Morgan, was defeated for re-election in 1980, along with many other incumbents from his party. His Republican successor, John Porter East, committed suicide in 1986. East's appointed successor, Jim Broyhill, served for just four months, resigning upon his November 1986 election loss to former Democratic Governor Terry Sanford. In 1992, the seat changed hands yet again, as Sanford was defeated by wealthy GOP businessman Lauch Faircloth, who himself lost in his bid for a second term six years later by John Edwards. In 2004, no incumbent was defeated, as Edwards was running for vice president and was not allowed to be on the ballot in both races. However, that year the seat did change parties for the fifth time in a row, with Richard Burr defeating Bill Clinton's onetime Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles.

* Note: Since no candidate received 40% of the vote on May 4, state law allowed a runoff (or "second primary") election if requested by the second-place finisher. Cunningham requested such a runoff.

North Dakota
Incumbent Democrat Byron Dorgan did not seek re-election. Republican Governor John Hoeven won the open seat. Incumbent Byron Dorgan never had a difficult time getting elected, as he obtained 59%, 63%, and 68% in his three senate election bids, respectively. However, in December 2009, Rasmussen Reports conducted a hypothetical matchup of Governor John Hoeven against the incumbent. Hoeven led by a large margin, 58% to Dorgan's 36%. 61% of the state still had a favorable view of Dorgan, and if pitted against State Senator Duane Sand, the incumbent led 52% to 37%.

Hoeven was challenged in the race by North Dakota State Senator Tracy Potter of Bismarck. Potter received the endorsement of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party at its state convention on March 27, 2010. Governor Hoeven and Senator Potter advanced to the November 2, 2010 general election following balloting in North Dakota's primary election, which was held June 8, 2010. Neither candidate faced any significant opposition in the primary election.

Ohio
Incumbent Republican George Voinovich retired instead of seeking a third term. Republican former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, United States Trade Representative, and Congressman Rob Portman won the open seat.

Originally, the election was seen as a toss-up. His experience as a former Bush official was considered to be a big problem for Portman. Both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for Fisher. Television advertisements were very negative. Fisher attacked Portman for helping to ship jobs overseas during his entire political career, backing deals that shipped jobs overseas, and the trade deficit with China, which grew by over $41 billion. Portman claimed in response that most jobs were being lost to other states, not countries. Portman attacked Fisher for supporting Obama's stimulus and cap and trade.

Winning the election, Portman received the majority of votes in 82 of 88 counties and in 15 of 18 Congressional districts, including the district of liberal U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Oklahoma
Incumbent first-term Republican Tom Coburn won re-election to a second term. Coburn, a very popular incumbent, promised to limit himself to two terms. Despite his popularity, he did release television advertisements. In 2009, Coburn's approval rating in a PPP poll was 59%, including a 39% approval rating among Democrats. His Democratic opponent is a perennial candidate who did little campaigning.

Oregon
Incumbent Democrat Ron Wyden won re-election to a third full term. Wyden, a popular incumbent with a 52% approval rating in a July poll, touted bipartisanship and promised to hold town-hall meetings annually in each of Oregon's 36 counties and to open offices outside of Portland and Salem. A Survey USA poll taken a few days before the election showed that 23% of Republicans supported Wyden.

Huffman, widely considered as an underdog, financed his own campaign. He defended bonuses for Wall Street executives and questioned global warming.

Pennsylvania
Incumbent Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter ran for re-election to a sixth term, but he lost in the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak. Republican nominee Pat Toomey then won the seat.

South Carolina
Incumbent Republican Jim DeMint won re-election to a second term. Alvin Greene, the Democratic nominee, was the first major-party African-American U.S. Senate candidate in South Carolina since Reconstruction. Alvin Greene's Democratic primary election win and his margin of victory surprised pundits. As of the primary, he had held no public campaign events, raised no money, and did not have a campaign website. A review of the primary election showed that of the state's 46 counties, half had a significant gap between the absentee and primary day ballots. For example, in Lancaster County, Vic Rawl won the absentees with 84 percent, while Greene won primary day by a double-digit margin. Rawl's campaign manager also claimed, "In only two of 88 precincts, do the number of votes Greene got plus the number we got equal the total cast."

South Dakota
Incumbent Republican John Thune won re-election to a second term unopposed.

Thune was narrowly elected to his first term over Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle with 51% of the vote in 2004. In spite of his lack of seniority, Thune rose to the position of chairman of the Republican Policy Committee in the United States Senate.

No members of the South Dakota Democratic Party (or any other party) filed to challenge Thune. Scott Heidepriem, the South Dakota Senate Minority Leader and a Democratic candidate for Governor of South Dakota, said, "We just concluded that John Thune is an extremely popular senator who is going to win another term in the Senate."

Utah
Incumbent Republican Bob Bennett was seeking re-election to a fourth term, but was eliminated in the GOP state convention. Republican Mike Lee, who won the Republican primary, won the open seat.

At the Republican convention, incumbent Senator Bob Bennett finished third in balloting among delegates and was eliminated from the race. Business owner Tim Bridgewater finished first and attorney Mike Lee finished second, but Bridgewater did not receive enough votes to avoid a primary election runoff against Lee. At the Democratic convention, delegates nominated businessman Sam Granato, who received 77.5 percent of the vote.

Vermont
Incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy easily won re-election to a seventh term.

Washington
Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray won re-election to a fourth term.

Republican Dino Rossi heavily criticized Murray for her support of the 2009 economic stimulus package; however, Rossi's economic promises are nearly identical to those of President Bush who asked for the stimulus. Rossi supports repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also criticized Murray for her support for earmarks. In response, Murray said, "You bet that seniority and leadership has a big thing to do with it, but the other part of it is, I get up every day and I work hard and I believe in this and I am going to continue fighting for the community I represent."

West Virginia (special)
Long-time Democratic Senator Robert Byrd died June 28, 2010, and Democratic Governor Joe Manchin appointed Carte Goodwin to temporarily fill the vacancy. Goodwin pledged to not run for election to the seat in exchange for the appointment. Manchin won the open seat and served out the remainder of Byrd's elected term, which ended on January 3, 2013.

During the Republican primary campaign, only Raese and Warner released television advertisements.

Wisconsin
Incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by political newcomer, Republican Ron Johnson. Johnson, a millionaire manufacturer and Tea Party movement favorite who was running for his first political office, was the front runner. In response to controversy over his ownership of stock in BP, Johnson said he would sell it when market conditions were favorable and possibly use the proceeds to help finance his Senate campaign. Feingold's first television ad was a positive ad released in March. In July 2010, Feingold's second 2010 television election ad attacked Johnson for alleged support for offshore drilling in the Great Lakes. Johnson quickly countered Feingold with a television ad of his own. Feingold's logo was Moving Forward. In one ad he emphasized independence and called himself a "Penny Pincher." Johnson argued that his professions, manufacturer and accountant were underrepresented in the U.S. Senate, and there were too many lawyers (57 out of 100 members), including Feingold.