Why are only some US Senate seats up for grabs? What to know in 500 words
Al Jazeera
Thirty-four of the 100 total Senate seats are being contested in November, the result of a staggered election system.
One race has dominated this year’s election cycle in the United States: the battle between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to win the White House.
But on November 5, Americans also will vote to fill other key posts outside the presidency. Many of those races will determine who controls Congress, an important lever of power.
One-third of the US Senate is up for grabs, as well as the entire House of Representatives. That amounts to 34 seats in Congress’s upper chamber and 435 in the lower one.
But why are representatives voted on every two years — and senators every six? And why aren’t all 100 seats in the Senate contested at once, like in the House?
