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Elections to the United States Senate were a part of the elections held in the United States on November 4, 2014 (and in some areas for a period of time ending November 4, 2014). Thirty-three Class 2 seats in the 100-member United States Senate were up for election as well as a few seats that were vacated early. The candidates winning these elections will serve six-year terms from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2021 except for some special seats that are for part of the term. Additionally, special elections were held to fill three vacancies in other classes that occurred during the 113th United States Congress. The elections marked 100 years of direct elections of U.S. Senators. Twenty-one of the open seats were held by the Democratic Party, while fifteen were held by the Republican Party. The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate in the 114th Congress, which started in January 2015; the Republicans had not controlled the Senate since January 2007. They had needed a net gain of at least six seats to obtain a majority. They successfully held all of their seats, and gained nine Democratic-held seats. Five incumbent Democratic senators were unseated: Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Udall of Colorado, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Polls and other factors had led forecasters to predict that the Republicans would win several seats, with most predicting that the party was likely but not certain to win at least the six seats necessary to take control of the Senate. This was the second consecutive election held in a president's sixth year where control of the Senate changed hands. This was also the first time that the Democrats lost control of the Senate in a sixth-year midterm since 1918. With a total net gain of 9 seats, the Republicans made the largest Senate gain by any party since 1980, and the largest Senate gain in a midterm election since 1958. This is also the first election since 1980 in which more than two incumbent Democratic Senators were defeated by their Republican challengers. ==Overview== In order to have a majority, the Republicans were required to attain at least 51 seats in the Senate. The Democrats would have been able to retain a majority with 48 seats (assuming the two Independents continued to caucus with them) because, in event of a tie vote, Vice President Joe Biden becomes the tie-breaker. From 1914 to 2012, control of the U.S. Senate flipped in 10 of 50 cycles, or 20% of the time. The Republican Party had lost ground in the 2012 elections, leading to an internal fight among the Republican leadership over the best strategies and tactics for the 2014 Senate races. By December 2013, eight of the twelve incumbent Republicans running for re-election saw Tea Party challenges. However, Republican incumbents won every primary challenge. Although Democrats saw some opportunities for pickups, the combination of Democratic retirements and numerous Democratic seats up for election in swing states and red states gave Republicans hopes of taking control of the Senate. 7 of the 21 states with Democratic seats up for election in 2014 had voted for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Democrats also faced the lower voter turnout that accompanies mid-term elections. Days after the election, the United States Election Project estimated that 36.6% of eligible voters voted, 4% lower than the 2010 elections, and possibly the lowest turnout rate since the 1942 election. Poll aggregation website FiveThirtyEight gave the Republican Party a 60% chance of taking control of the Senate as of September 28. Another poll aggregation website, RealClearPolitics, gave the Republican Party a net gain of 7 seats. Due to the closeness of several races, it was initially believed that Senate control might not be decided on election night.〔 Both Louisiana and Georgia were seen as competitive, and both states require a run-off election if no candidate takes a majority of the vote. Additionally, two independent candidates, Greg Orman in Kansas and Larry Pressler in South Dakota, refused to commit to caucusing with either party. In the final months of the race, polls showed the two independent candidates with viable chances of winning seats in the Senate, leading some analysts to speculate on the possibility of an "independent caucus" that could also include Maine Senator Angus King and possibly Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. However, no independent won a Senate race in 2014, and King and Sanders continue to caucus with the Democratic Party following the 2014 election. By midnight ET, most major networks projected that the Republicans would take control of the Senate. The party held all three competitive Republican-held seats (Kentucky, Kansas, and Georgia), and defeated incumbent Democrats in North Carolina, Colorado, and Arkansas. Combined with the pick-ups of open seats in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia, the Republicans made a net gain of 7 seats before the end of the night. In the process of taking control of the Senate, Republicans defeated three incumbent Democrats, a task the party had not accomplished since the 1980 election. Five of the seven confirmed pickups were in states that voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, but two of the seats that Republicans won represent states that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 (Colorado and Iowa). Of the three races that were not called by the end of election night, Alaska and Virginia were still too close to call, while Louisiana held a December 6 run-off election. Virginia declared Democrat Mark Warner the winner of his race by a narrow margin over Republican Ed Gillespie on November 7, and Alaska declared Dan Sullivan the winner against Democratic incumbent Mark Begich a week later, on November 12. Republican Bill Cassidy defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu in the Louisiana runoff on December 6. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Senate elections, 2014」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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