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The three classes of US Senators, each currently including 33 or 34 Senators (since Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, and until another state is admitted to statehood), are a means used by the US Senate for describing the schedules of Senate seats' elections, and of the expiration of the terms of office of the Senators holding the respective seats.
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Constitutional division
The US Constitution specifies staggered 6-year terms for Senators, and there are special provisions for getting a new state into a situation that makes that pattern continue automatically:
around the time of the first federal elections, in 1788, each state appointed its two Senators for, respectively,
a two-year and a four-year term,
a four-year and a six-year term, or
a two-year and a six-year term;
upon the expiration of a Senator's term of any length, someone starts a new six-year term as Senator (based on appointment in most states, until the Seventeenth Amendment required direct popular election of Senators);
when a new state is admitted to the Union, its two Senators have terms that correspond to those of two different classes, among the three classes defined below;
which two classes is determined by a scheme that keeps the three classes as close to the same size as possible, i.e., that avoids any class differing by more than one from the minimum-sized class.
(This means at least one of a new state's first pair of Senators has a term of less than six years, and one term is either two or four years shorter than the other.)
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Class I
Class I consists of
the 33 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2006, and whose terms end in January 2007; and
earlier Senators with terms ending in 2001, 1995, 1989, 1983, 1977, 1971, 1965, 1959, and back to 1791; and
some Senators who were successors to Senators who started two-year terms in 1789.
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Class II
Class II consists of
the 33 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2008, and whose terms end in January 2009; and
earlier Senators with terms that ended in 2003, 1997, 1991, 1985, 1979, 1973, 1967, 1961, and back to 1793; and
some Senators who were successors to Senators who started four-year terms in 1789.
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Class III
Class III consists of
the 34 current Senators whose seats are scheduled for re-election in November 2010, and whose terms end in January 2011; and
earlier Senators with terms that ended in 2005, 1999, 1993, 1987, 1981, 1975, 1969, 1963, and back to 1795; and
some Senators who were successors to Senators who started six-year terms in 1789.
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