Editing Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (section)

===2005–2006 election cycle===
[[Chuck Schumer]] chaired the DSCC one of two consecutive cycles. Prior to the [[2006 United States Senate elections|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]] (of [[Missouri]]) lost to [[Claire McCaskill]]
* [[Conrad Burns]] (of [[Montana]]) lost to [[Jon Tester]]
* [[Mike DeWine]] (of [[Ohio]]) lost to [[Sherrod Brown]]
* [[Rick Santorum]] (of [[Pennsylvania]]) lost to [[Bob Casey Jr.]]
* [[Lincoln Chafee]] (of [[Rhode Island]]) lost to [[Sheldon Whitehouse]]
* [[George Allen (American politician)|George Allen]] (of [[Virginia]]) lost to [[Jim Webb]].

Incumbent Democrat [[Joe Lieberman]] (of [[Connecticut]]) lost the Democratic primary, but won reelection as an independent candidate. Democrats kept their two open seats in [[Minnesota]] and [[Maryland]], and Republicans held onto their lone open seat in [[Tennessee]]. In [[Vermont]], [[Bernie Sanders]], an independent was elected to the seat left open by retiring Independent [[Jim Jeffords]].

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.