1990 United States Senate elections

1990 United States Senate elections

← 1988 November 6, 1990 1992 →
1991 (PA) →
35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader George Mitchell Bob Dole Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 1989 January 3, 1985 Leader's seat Maine Kansas Seats before 55 45 Seats after 56 44 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 17,907,544[a] 16,494,624[a] Percentage 51.1% 47.1% Seats up 17 18 Races won 18 17
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election
Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election cycle took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress. Until 2022, this had been the only election cycle where only one U.S. Senate seat flipped parties.

These elections, along with 2022, featured the smallest seat change in history since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 with only one seat changing parties. That election featured Democrat Paul Wellstone defeating incumbent Republican Rudy Boschwitz in Minnesota. To date, this is the last cycle in which Democratic candidates won U.S. Senate elections in Oklahoma and Tennessee.

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