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Astate senator is a member of astate's senate in thebicameral legislature of 49U.S. states, or a member of theunicameralNebraska Legislature.
There are typically fewer state senators than there are members of a state'slower house; a senator's job is to represent the people at a higher level than a state representative in the lower house.[1] In the past, this meant that senators represented various geographic regions within a state, regardless of the population, as a way of balancing the power of the lower house, which was apportioned according to population. This system changed in 1964, when theSupreme Court of the United States announced inReynolds v. Sims thatstate legislatures must apportion seats in both houses according to population.[2] However, the single-member district system remained, and as a result, the state senates became redundant bodies,[3] as other solutions, such as abolition (as inCanada) or switching to statewideproportional representation (as inAustralia) have not been adopted.
Most state senators are elected to four-year terms every presidential election year.
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