Midterm elections in the
United States are the
general elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
that are held near the midpoint of a
president's four-year
term of office, on
Election Day on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms include all 435 seats in the
United States House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the
United States Senate.
In addition, 34 of the 50
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...
s elect their
governors for four-year terms during midterm elections, while
Vermont and
New Hampshire elect governors to two-year terms in both midterm and presidential elections. Thus, 36 governors are elected during midterm elections. Many states also elect officers to their
state legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are many
mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of
citizen initiatives.
Special elections are often held in conjunction with regular elections, so additional Senators, governors and other local officials may be elected to partial terms.
Midterm elections historically generate lower
voter turnout than presidential elections. While the latter have had turnouts of about 50–60% over the past 60 years, only about 40% of those eligible to vote go to the polls in midterm elections. Historically, midterm elections often see the president's party
lose seats in Congress, and also frequently see the president's opposite-party opponents gain control of one or both houses of Congress.
Background
While
Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the
United States Constitution sets the
U.S. President's term of office to four years,
Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 sets a two-year term for congressmembers elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Article I, Section 3, Clause 1 then sets a six-year term for those elected to the
U.S. Senate, with
Clause 2 dividing the chamber into
three "classes" so that approximately one-third of those seats are up for election every two years.
The elections for many state and local government offices are held during the midterms so they are not overshadowed or influenced by the presidential election. Still, a number of state and local governments instead prefer to avoid presidential and midterm years altogether and schedule their local races during odd-numbered "
off-years".
Historical record of midterm
Midterm elections are regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's and/or
incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-el ...
party's performance.
The party of the incumbent president tends to lose ground during midterm elections: since World War II, the President's party has lost an average of 26 seats in the House, and an average of four seats in the Senate.
Moreover, since direct public midterm elections were introduced, in only eight of those (under presidents
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...
,
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
,
Richard Nixon,
Bill Clinton,
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
,
Donald Trump, and
Joe Biden) has the President's party gained seats in the House or the Senate, and of those only two (1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and 2002, George W. Bush) have seen the President's party gain seats in ''both'' houses.
The losses suffered during a president's second midterm tend to be more pronounced than during their first midterm,
in what is described as a "
six-year itch
The six-year itch, according to political scientists, is the pattern which takes place during a US president's sixth year in office. This year is characterized by the nation's disgruntled attitude towards the president and their political part ...
".
Comparison with other U.S. general elections
Notes
References
External links
*
{{United States elections
Elections in the United States
1790 establishments in the United States