List of special elections to the United States Senate

This is an incomplete [For information on completeness, see .] list of special elections to the United States Senate. Such elections fill the vacancies that occur when a member of the Senate dies or resigns before the biennial general election which precedes the end of his or her six-term term. Winners of these special elections serve the remaining two or four years plus two months of that six-year term. Winners are typically candidates in the general election for that seat. The governor of a state in which a vacancy occurs appoints someone to fill the seat between the time that it becomes vacant and the time that the winner of the special election is certified.

Prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, most state legislatures appointed U.S. Senators. Some states, however, did elect their U.S. Senators by popular vote.

General elections to the U.S. Congress are held in November of even-numbered years. New Congresses convened on March 4 of the following year until 1934. Since 1934 new Congresses have convened on January 3 of the following year.

Some states, such as Texas, allow for special elections to the Senate that occur separate from a general election (similar to special elections to the U.S. House), while most wait to hold them in conjunction with the next general election.

Notes

ee also

* List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

External links

* [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/hd108-222/ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774 - 2005] Contains complete listing of all Congresses