Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.
Election results, 2020: Control of the U.S. Senate
Updated 5:10 p.m. ET on January 6, 2021
As a result of the 2020 U.S. Senate elections, Democrats and Republicans split the chamber 50-50, with Vice President (starting January 20, 2021, Democrat Kamala Harris) having the tie-breaking vote. Heading into the November 3, 2020, elections, Republicans held 53 seats in the U.S. Senate, with Democrats holding 45 and independents who caucus with Democrats holding the remaining two.
Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate following two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5, 2021. Raphael Warnock (D) won the special runoff election and Jon Ossoff (D) won the regular runoff election. Before the runoffs, Republicans had secured 50 seats and Democrats had secured 48 seats (including among them two seats held by independents who caucus with Democrats).
Democrats flipped four seats and Republicans flipped one:
- Tommy Tuberville (R) defeated incumbent Doug Jones (D) in Alabama.
- Mark Kelly (D) defeated incumbent Martha McSally (R) in Arizona's special election.
- John Hickenlooper (D) defeated incumbent Cory Gardner (R) in Colorado.
- Raphael Warnock (D) defeated Kelly Loeffler (R) in Georgia.
- Jon Ossoff (D) defeated David Perdue (R) in Georgia.
Thirty-five of the 100 seats were up in 2020, including two special elections. Twenty-three of those seats were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats, giving Republicans greater partisan risk in 2020.
Ballotpedia tracked 16 of the 35 races as battlegrounds, including 12 for Republican-held seats and four for Democratic-held seats. Both parties defended two seats that the other party's presidential nominee won in 2016, with Democrats defending seats in Alabama and Michigan and Republicans defending seats in Colorado and Maine. The last time this set of seats was up, in 2014, nine flipped, all from Democratic to Republican.
Four of the seats up were open, meaning the incumbent was not running for re-election. Three of those seats were held by Republicans and one by a Democrat. The four senators were retiring from public office.
Updated 5:10 p.m. ET on January 6, 2021
The table below shows pre-election incumbents and winners of the 2020 U.S. Senate elections.
The first map below shows incumbents prior to the 2020 U.S. Senate elections, and the second map shows the winners of the elections. Hover over a state to see its incumbent or 2020 winner.
See also
- Election results, 2020
- Election results, 2020: Control of the U.S. House
- Election results, 2020: State government trifectas
- Election results, 2020: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections
- Election results, 2020: State legislative veto-proof majorities
- Election results, 2020: State government triplexes
- Election results, 2020: Partisan balance of governors
