a majority, the Democrats would have needed to attain at least 51 seats or 50 seats (and hold the presidency) in the Senate. If they had won the presidency, the Democrats would have been able to gain a majority with 48 seats (assuming the two Independents continued to caucus with them) 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. 2017–2018 election cycle