Which chamber of Congress has staggered terms?

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Social Studies

Jacoby Barrett

2 September, 23:33

Which chamber of Congress has staggered terms?

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Alvaro Strong · Answer 1

The United States Congress has two chambers: the House of Representatives (ften referred to simply as "the House") and the Senate. The House does not have staggered terms: every single member of the House of Representatives is elected to a two-year term, and all of the seats in the House are voted on at the same time.

The Senate, however, does have staggered terms. Senators are elected to six-year terms, but only a third of the seats in the Senate are up for election in a given election year. Federal election years are held on even years (2010, 2012, 2014, etc.), and on any given year only about a third of Senators will face reelection. This framers of the Constitution designed the Senate this way to make sure there was some continuity from one Congress to the next.