2022 United States Senate Elections (To Form A More Perfect Union)

The **2022 United States Senate elections** were held on November 8, 2022, with 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested in regular elections, the winners of which served six-year terms in the United States Congress from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2029. Senators are divided into three groups, or classes, whose terms are staggered so that a different class is elected every two years. Class 3 senators were last elected in 2016, and will be up for election again in 2022. The GOP hadn’t had 54 Senate seats since the 114th Congress (2015-2017). The GOP had this many seats or more in the 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 57th, 58th, 59th, 60th, 61st, 67th, 71st, 98th, 105th, 106th, 109th, and 114th Congresses.

## Retirements

**Democrats**

-Vermont: Patrick Leahy retired

**Republicans**
-Alabama: Richard Shelby retired

-Iowa: Chuck Grassley retired

-Missouri: Roy Blunt retired

-North Carolina: Richard Burr retired

-Ohio: Rob Portman retired

-Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey retired

## Alabama

Incumbent Senator Richard Shelby was first elected in 1986 and re-elected in 1992 as a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party in 1994. In his most recent election in 2016, he was re-elected with over 64% of the vote against Democrat Ron Crumpton. In February 2021, Shelby announced he will not seek re-election to a seventh term.

The initial Republican primary included former ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard, Sen. Shelby’s former Chief of Staff Katie Britt, and the winner, US Representative Mo Brooks. The Democrats rallied behind AL House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels after AL DNC Chair Christopher England announced a run for Governor.

Brooks defeated Daniels in a landslide.

Alabama 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Alaska

Incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski, a maverick Republican, was primaries by former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin. Palin narrowly won the seat on the second round against Murkowski, who ran as an independent, by 3% or 8,000 votes, making it one of the closest elections in the cycle, only beaten out by Pennsylvania and Arizona.

The results below where determined by Ranked Choice Voting, which Aleutian voters adopted in 2020. The top four advanced, including Libertarian-Democratic-Independent nominee Joe Miller and Aleutian state official Kelly Tshibaka (a Republican). Palin and Murkowski made it to the final round where Palin narrowly beat out Murkowski by a few thousand votes. Although in raw votes this would be the third-closest race after Pennsylvania and Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina where closer percentage-wise.

Alaska 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Arizona

Incumbent Arizona Senator Mark Kelly defeated then-Incumbent Senator Martha McSally in a 2020 special election. Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward defeated Kelly in a very close election only beaten out by Pennsylvania. Ward was deemed only to have won because of the low turnout, indeed she would only be a one-term senator.

Alaska 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Arkansas

Two term Republican John Boozman was re-elected in 2016 with 59.8% of the vote. Boozman easily won the Republican primary and the general election against Joyce Elliot, a Democrat nominee for the House of Representatives in 2020.

Arkansas 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## California

Alex Padilla was appointed by then-Governor Gavin Newsom under January 17th, 2021 after Kamala Harris resigned to become the Vice President of the United States. He defeated San Francisco mayor London Breed to win. Breed was also a Democrat. The last time a Republican made it on the ballot for this seat was in 2010 when Barbara Boxer defeated Carly Fiorina by 1 million votes and 10% of the vote.

California 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Colorado

Michael Bennet had ran unsuccessfully for the US Presidency in 2020. He now faced off a challenge from former Senator Cory Gardner, where he easily won.

Colorado 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Connecticut

Richard Blumenthal easily won re-election against Dan Carter, who had run against Blumenthal in 2016. This was largely due to Connecticut being a very blue state.

Connecticut 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Florida

Incumbent Senator Marco Rubio, formerly a candidate for President in 2016 and later a candidate for President in 2020, was widely popular in Florida and easily defeated US Representative Val Demings by close to 9 points. Rubio was also aided by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also popular and also a Republican, being on the ballot.

Florida 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Georgia

Rafael Warnock was elected on a special election, January 5th, 2021. He was a pastor at the same church that the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. taught at. He defeated Kelly Loeffler, who narrowly bested Doug Collins in a primary.

In 2022, former US Representative and 2020-2021 Georgia US Senate candidate Doug Collins won the nomination and would defeated Warnock by bringing up his progressive voting record and previous controversial statements that had mostly been ignored in the 2020-2021 race.

Georgia was remarkable in the regard that the GOP gained a Senate seat and several Georgia House seats while losing the Governorship and the Secretary of State in the same election.

Georgia 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Hawaii

Brian Schatz was the incumbent Senator from Hawaii, Hawaii being a very blue state, the race was not deemed competitive. State legislator Gene Ward was the Republican nominee.

Hawaii 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Idaho

Mike Crapo easily won re-election. Idaho being a very red state, he faced some minor third party opposition from members of the Consitution Party. No Democrat ran against him.

Idaho 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Illinois

Tammy Duckworth, considered for the Vice Presidency under Biden and later Defense Secretary, was easily elected over Bill Brady.

Illinois 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Indiana

Incumbent Republican Senator Todd Young faced a from State Senator J.D. Ford. Although it was previously speculated Pete Buttigieg may have run for the seat, he opted to instead remain in his post in the Biden cabinet as Transportation Secretary. Buttigieg would be the 2024 Vice Presidential and the 2032 Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Young also faced a challenge from the Libertarian party, which was relatively strong in Indiana. The race saw surprisingly low turnout.

Indiana 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Iowa

Longtime Senator Chuck Grassley, President Pro Tempore Emeritus of the US Senate, retired due to age. US Representative Randy Feenstra easily defeated his colleague in the House, Cindy Axne. After the Republicans picked up two Iowa US House seats in 2020, Axne remained the final Iowa Democrat in Congress. Her retirement to run for the US Senate lead to the GOP gaining complete control of Iowa’s congressional delegation.

Iowa 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Kansas

Kansas 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Kentucky

Incumbent Senator Rand Paul, son of former Presidential candidate Ron Paul, former Presidential candidate himself, and one of the most libertarian senators, easily won re-election against incumbent Governor Andy Beshear. Beshear would unsuccessfully seek the nomination for President in 2024, and was rumored to be on Kamala Harris’s shortlist first for Vice President and later for Attorney General. However, Harris picked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as her running mate and was no elected, therefore never having an attorney general.

Kentucky 2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Louisiana

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Maryland

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Missouri

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Nevada

Incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto lost to popular former governor Brian Sandoval. Cortez-Masto was first elected in 2016 holding a seat held previously by then Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Sandoval had previously been a very popular governor of Nevada from 2011-2019, when he retired due to term limits. He became President of the University of Nevada, Reno in 2020. He left that post in 2022 to run for office.

Sandoval won by a surprising large 8 points. Sandoval also flipped Clark County, home to Las Vegas, to win every county.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## New Hampshire

Incumbent New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu beat incumbent Senator Maggie Hassan by 5 percentage points. This was deemed part of the Rust Belt breaking away from the Democrats, illustrated in part by New Hampshire but also by upset in the New York Gubernatorial race and gubernatorial flips in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Sununu was widely popular in the state while Hassan narrowly defeated then-Senator Kelly Ayotte in 2016 by less then 2,000 votes. Ayotte was actually elected to fill Sununu’s seat in this same election.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## New York

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## North Carolina

North Carolina, a swing state, ended up a highly competitive election when Senator Richard Burr, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump, retired. The Republican field was wide as was the Democrats. Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s Democrat governor, was reported to have considered running until North Carolina’s other Senator, Thom Tillis, announced a prostate cancer diagnosis in March 2021. Cooper decided to stay in order to potentially appoint a Democrat should Tillis pass away. Cooper would later run in 2026 for the Senate against Tillis where he would win.

Another major candidate who considered running but decided against it was Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump. She was later advised against it by Republican strategists who saw the North Carolina seat as essential to a majority in the Senate.

Former North Carolina governor Pat McCroy won the GOP’s nomination while state Senator Jeff Jackson won the Democrats nomination. McCroy would win the election by 1 percentage points.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## North Dakota

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Ohio

The Ohio race was originally deemed a safe Republican seat until two-term Rob Portman announced he would retire. 2012 and 2018 US Senate candidate and former Ohio State Treasure won the Republican nomination in a wide field of candidates, while US Representative and 2020 Presidential candidate Tim Ryan won the Democratic nomination.

Many made allusions to Barack Obama saying that if Tim Ryan won the election in Ohio he could be major caliber to run in 2024, even with Kamala Harris a major front runner already. However, Ryan lost by 7 points to Mandel.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Oklahoma

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Oregon

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Pennsylvania

Incumbent Republican Pat Toomey retired, making an open seat in a very competitive state. Former US Representative Ryan Costello won the Republican nomination, defeating a wide field of candidates. Incumbent Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman won the nomination for Democrats, defeating a wide field himself.

The race was very close in the swing state of Pennsylvania, with Fetterman up by 2 points in the polls through November. However, the day before election day, a Harrisburg resident and former Fetterman aide accused Fetterman of sexual assault, enough to narrowly tip the race to Costello.

At the end of the election night, Costello was up by just over 1,200 votes. However, as the final ballots where counted the day after the election, Costello was up only 163 votes. Fetterman would sue Costello, alleging voter fraud and irregularities, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in the case of *Fetterman v. Costello* that Costello had won the seat.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## South Carolina

South Carolina Senator and Future Vice President Tim Scott easily won the election against former US Representative Joe Cunningham. Scott, the GOP’s only African-American Senator at the time, and one of only three Black republicans in Congress (along with Representative Burgess Owens of Utah and Byron Donalds of Florida).

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## South Dakota

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Utah

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Vermont

Incumbent Democrat and Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy retired after serving in the Senate for decades. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan won the election with no Republican opposition. The Republicans gave up on the state that had once been a stronghold, although it was speculated that incumbent governor Phil Scott might run against Bernie Sanders in 2024. He did not.

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote
 Percentage

## Washington

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

## Wisconsin

2022 Senate election
 Party
 Popular Vote

Category:To Form A More Perfect Union
Category:Politics
Category:Alternate History and Future