After the November 2006 general election, this claim will be judged TRUE if at least 51 seats of the newly-elected Senate (i.e. the Senators just elected to the 110th Congress, plus those in seats not up for election) are held by members of the Democratic Party.
Otherwise (if the Democrats hold 50 or fewer seats in the newly-elected Senate), this claim will be judged FALSE.
This claim shall be judged when at least two of the following organizations consistently report at least 51 seats in the newly elected Senate held by Democrats or at least 50 by non-Democrats, and none of others actively dispute those results: C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, The New York Times, The Washington Post.
I intend to judge this claim by the letter.
Specifically:
- the criteria specify "held by members of the Democratic Party," not "won by the Democratic nominee." Were Joe Lieberman to win, for example, the determination of whether he counts towards the 51 will be based on party membership, rather than the fact that he did not have the Democratic nomination. - the "member of the Democratic Party" standard will apply at the time of judgement. That is to say, if a Senator or Senator-elect changes party affiliation between election day and the point where none of the mentioned news media "actively dispute" the results, then the new party affiliation will determine whether this person counts toward the 51.
