Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. Its purpose is to elect Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current chair is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who succeeded Gary Peters of Michigan after the 2024 Senate elections. DSCC's current executive director is Devan Barber.
List of chairs and vice chairs
Chairs
Vice chairs
Recent history
2001–2002 election cycle
became the first female Chair of the DSCC in 2001. Her team raised more than $143 million, beating the previous record by $40 million. However, the Democratic Party lost two seats in the subsequent election which saw President George W. Bush become the first sitting president to take control of the Senate in a midterm election since 1914. This result may be attributed to George W. Bush's post-9/11 popularity and the death of Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who had been favored to win.2005–2006 election cycle
chaired the DSCC one of two consecutive cycles. Prior to the 2006 election, the Republican Party controlled 55 of 100 Senate seats. The Democratic Party performed well in the 2006 elections. No Congressional or gubernatorial seat held by a Democrat was won by a Republican. Six Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats:- Jim Talent lost to Claire McCaskill
- Conrad Burns lost to Jon Tester
- Mike DeWine lost to Sherrod Brown
- Rick Santorum lost to Bob Casey Jr.
- Lincoln Chafee lost to Sheldon Whitehouse
- George Allen lost to Jim Webb.
For the first time since 1954, neither major party held a majority of seats. However, the partisan balance for the Senate stood at 51–49 in favor of the Democrats, as Independent senators Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman caucused with them.
2007–2008 election cycle
chaired the DSCC for the second of two consecutive cycles. Heading into the 2008 election, the Senate consisted of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two independents who caucused with the Democrats, giving the Democratic caucus a de facto 51–49 majority. Of the seats up for election in 2008, 23 were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. The Republicans, who openly conceded early on that they wouldn't be able to recover the majority in 2008, lost eight seats. This election was the second successive cycle in which no seats switched from Democratic to Republican. In addition, this was the largest Democratic Senate gain since 1986, when they also won eight seats.Democrats defeated five Republican incumbents:
- Ted Stevens lost to Mark Begich
- Norm Coleman lost to Al Franken
- John Sununu lost to Jeanne Shaheen
- Elizabeth Dole lost to Kay Hagan
- Gordon Smith lost to Jeff Merkley
When the new Senate was first sworn in, the balance was 58–41 in favor of the Democrats, because of the unresolved Senate election in Minnesota. The defection of Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in April 2009 and the swearing-in of Al Franken in July 2009 brought the balance to 60–40.
2011–2012 election cycle
In 2012, 23 Democratic Senate seats were available, as opposed to 10 Republican seats. An increase of four seats would have given the GOP a Senate majority. In the election, three GOP seats were won and one Democratic seat was lost, increasing the Democratic majority by two.DSCC executive director said their strategy was to "localize" elections – make them "a choice between the two people on the ballot and not simply allow it to be a nationalized election". Because this is not easy to do in a presidential election year, the DSCC had gone very much on the offensive, depicting Republican candidates and donors, and especially the Tea Party, as extreme. During the Florida and Indiana primaries, they pushed that the Tea Party was working to move the GOP "so far to the right that candidates will say anything to get their party's nomination". The GOP targeted four red states to pick up the seats they need for a Senate majority. They were looking at states that did not vote for President Obama in 2008: Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota. They lost three of those four seats.
2013–2014 election cycle
In 2014, 21 Democrats were up for election. 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 because, in event of a tie vote, Vice President Joe Biden becomes the tie-breaker. Many of the incumbents were elected in the Democratic wave year of 2008 along with President Obama's first election.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.
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, 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. 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. Incumbent Virginia Democrat Mark Warner was declared the winner of his race by a narrow margin over Republican Ed Gillespie on November 7, and Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan was declared the winner against Democratic incumbent Mark Begich a week later, on November 12. Republican Bill Cassidy defeated incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu in the Louisiana runoff on December 6.
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.
2015–2016 election cycle
In 2016, 10 Democratic and 23 Republicans seats were up for reelection. In order to have gained a majority, the Democrats would have needed to attain at least 51 seats or 50 seats in the Senate. If they had won the presidency, the Democrats would have been able to gain a majority with 48 seats because, in event of a tie vote, the Vice President becomes the tie-breaker. Many of the incumbents were elected in the Republican wave year of 2010 midterm. The Democrats needed to gain 4 seats as the Republicans held the majority 54–46, with both independent candidates caucusing with the Democrats. Two-term Senator Jon Tester of Montana chaired the DSCC for this cycle.There were five seats that the Democrats needed to defend this cycle: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Patty Murray of Washington, and the seats of retiring Senators Harry Reid of Nevada, Barbara Boxer of California, and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. Seven of the Republican seats that were up for reelection were in states that Obama won twice, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rob Portman of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida who ran for reelection after an unsuccessful presidential bid. In all but one of those seats, Iowa, the Republican incumbents were fighting to be reelected for the first time. Democrats were also targeting the open seat in Indiana which was vacated by retiring Republican Dan Coats. There were several other states the Democrats were focused on where the Republican incumbents may have been vulnerable: John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Boozman of Arkansas, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Rand Paul of Kentucky who simultaneously ran for president, and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana.
After the election, Democrats gained two seats. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire joined the caucus. They also successfully defended their only seat in contention, Nevada where Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina U.S. Senator. This was the first time since 1992 that the Democrats gained seats in this Senate Class. For the first time the DSCC did not endorse a candidate in the general election in California because both women were Democrats competing for the seat of retiring Senator Barbara Boxer. Kamala Harris beat Loretta Sanchez for the seat.