I believe I saw two Independent US Senators winning in this election. How do they factor into the 51 seats needed for the Democrats to control the Senate? Or, has the media simply simplified the issue? With two Independents in the mix, how does one define a majority? Would a tie vote still be broken by the VP?
The two independents – Joe Lieberman and Bernie Saunders – have announced that they will vote with the Democrats, so they count as part of the majority.
Sanders was an independent in the House, and voted with the Democrats there. Lieberman was a Democrat (he ran for VP for them, after all) and planned to stick with the party.
Note that on any individual vote, any senator can vote however he or she wants. However, on votes used to organize the Senate, both independents will vote with the Democrats – and be considered as part of the majority when running committees.
The two independents are Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Both have said they will vote with the Democrats on the administrative issue of how to organize the Senate – i.e. who will be Majority Leader, who will chair the committees, etc. This is what most people mean by “control” the Senate, as the committee chairs get to decide what legislation will make it to the floor, and the Majority Leader decides what legislation will be taken up for a vote.
However, Senators on both sides of the aisle can and do buck the party line on any specific legislation or nominations. Any tied votes are still broken by the VP.
I gotta use preview.
Also consider that Bernie Sanders is a self-described socialist, so I doubt there’ll ever be a case where he’ll side with the Republicans against the Democrats.
Lieberman is somewhat of a centrist, but with the Democrats gaining momentum he’ll probably vote along with the party line.
Given that most of the newly-elected Democrats are centrists or “conservative Democrats,” I expect that Lieberman could become a major power broker in the next session of Congress.