2010 United States elections

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Election day	November 2
Incumbent president	Barack Obama(Democratic)
Next Congress	112th
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	38 of 100 seats (34 seats of Class III + 5 special elections)[1]
Net seat change	Republican +6
2010 Senate election results map      Republican gain      Democratic hold     Republican hold
House elections
Overall control	Republican gain
Seats contested	All 435 voting seats
Popular vote margin	Republican +6.8%
Net seat change	Republican +63
2010 House election results map      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Democratic gain     Republican gain
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	39 (37 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change	Republican +6
2010 gubernatorial election results map      Democratic gain     Republican gain      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Independent gain

Elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2010, in the middle ofDemocratic PresidentBarack Obama's first term.Republicans ended unified Democratic control ofCongress and the presidency by winning a majority in theHouse of Representatives and gained seats in theSenate despite Democrats holding Senate control.

Republicans gained seven seats in the Senate (including a special election held in January 2010) but failed to gain a majority in the chamber. In the House of Representatives, Republicans won a net gain of 63 seats, the largest shift in seats since the1948 elections. In state elections, Republicans won a net gain of six gubernatorial seats and flipped control of twenty state legislative chambers, giving them a substantial advantage in the redistricting that occurred following the2010 United States census. The election was widely characterized as a"Republican wave" election, and President Obama called it "a shellacking."^[2]

The heavy Democratic losses in 2010 were mainly attributed to the passing of theAffordable Care Act along with a poor economic recovery from theGreat Recession and large budget deficits. This marked the first election since 1858 that yielded a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate.

Candidates and voters in 2010 focused on national economic conditions and the economic policies of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Attention was paid to public anger over theWall Street bailout signed into law by PresidentGeorge W. Bush in late 2008. Voters were also motivated for and against thesweeping reforms of the health care system enacted by Democrats in 2010, as well as concerns over tax rates and record deficits.^[3] At the time of the election, unemployment was over 9%, and had not declined significantly sinceBarack Obama had become president. Further eroding public trust in Congress were a series of scandals that saw Democratic representativesCharlie Rangel andMaxine Waters, as well as Republican senatorJohn Ensign, all accused of unethical or illegal conduct in the months leading up to the 2010 election.^{[citation needed]}

Immigration reform had become an important issue in 2010, particularly following the passage ofArizona Senate Bill 1070, officially known as the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The Act greatly enhanced the power of Arizona's law enforcement agencies to investigate the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants and to enforce state and national immigration laws.^{[citation needed]} The Act also required immigrants to carry their immigration documentation on their person at all times. Its passage by a Republican-led legislature and its subsequent and very public signing byJan Brewer, the RepublicanGovernor of Arizona, ignited protests across the Southwest and galvanized political opinion among both pro-immigration Latino groups and Tea Party activists, many of whom supported stronger measures to stem illegal immigration.^{[citation needed]}

The passage of the controversialPatient Protection and Affordable Care Act also contributed to the low approval ratings of Congress, particularly Democrats, in the months leading up to the election.^{[citation needed]} Many Republicans ran on a promise to repeal the law, and beat incumbent Democratic opponents who had voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.^{[citation needed]}

On January 19, 2010, a special election was also held for the Class I seat inMassachusetts, as a result of the death of incumbent SenatorTed Kennedy. RepublicanScott Brown won the seat.

The 34 seats in theUnited States SenateClass III were up for election. In addition, the Class I/II seats held by appointed SenatorsTed Kaufman ofDelaware,Kirsten Gillibrand ofNew York, andCarte Goodwin ofWest Virginia were contested inspecial elections on the same day. Republicans picked up six seats, but Democrats retained a majority in the Senate.

All 435 voting seats in theUnited States House of Representatives were up for election. Additionally, elections were held to select thedelegates for theDistrict of Columbia and four of the fiveU.S. territories. The only seat in the House not up for election was that of theResident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, who serves a four-year term and faced election in2012. Republicans won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 6.8 points^[4] and picked up 63 seats, taking control of the chamber for the first time since the2006 elections. This represented the largest single-election shift in House seats since the1948 elections and the largest midterm election shift since the1938 elections. The only seat Democrats flipped without unseating a Republican was Delaware's lone House seat, going to former Lt. GovernorJohn Carney.^[5][6]

37 state and two territoryUnited States governors were up for election. Republicans picked up a net of six state governorships; Democrats won control of five governorships previously controlled by Republicans, but Republicans took 11 governorships.

In many states where the following positions are elected offices, voters elected state executive branch offices (includingLieutenant Governors (though some will be voted for on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee),Secretary of state,state Treasurer,state Auditor,state Attorney General, state Superintendent of Education, Commissioners ofInsurance, Agriculture or, Labor, etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats onstate Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).

Republicans made substantial gains in state legislatures across the nation. Twenty chambers flipped from Democratic to Republican control, giving Republicans full control of eleven state legislatures and control of one chamber in Colorado, Iowa, and New York.^[7][8] Additionally, Republicans gained enough seats in the Oregon House of Representatives to produce a 30-30 party split, pushing Democrats into a power-sharing agreement that resulted in the election of two "co-speakers" (one from each party) to lead the chamber.^[9] Republicans gained a net of 680 seats in state legislative races, breaking the previous record of 628 flipped seats set by Democrats in the post-Watergate elections of 1974.^[10]

Six states saw both chambers switch from Democrat to Republican majorities: Alabama (where the Republicans won a majority and a trifecta for the first time since 1874), Maine (for the first time since 1975 and a trifecta for the first time since 1965), Minnesota (for the first time since 1915 in partisan elections and 1973 in non-partisan elections), New Hampshire, North Carolina (for the first time since 1896), and Wisconsin. In addition, by picking up the lower chambers in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Montana^[a] and Pennsylvania, Republicans gained control of both chambers in an additional five states. Furthermore, Republicans picked up one chamber from Democrats in Colorado, Iowa, and New York to split control in those states. They expanded majorities in both chambers in Texas, Florida, and Georgia.^[11][12]

On November 2, 2010, various cities, counties, school boards, and special districts (in the United States) witnessed elections. Some elections were high-profile.

• Luzerne County,Pennsylvania: The voters of Luzerne County adopted ahome rule charter by a margin of 51,413 to 41,639.^[13][14] This changed the county’s government from aboard of county commissioners to acouncil-manager form of government. The following year (in 2011), thefirst general election for the newassembly was held. The first council members were sworn in on January 2, 2012.^[15]

High-profile mayoral elections are listed below:

• Honolulu, Hawaii: Incumbent mayorMufi Hannemann resigned on July 20, 2010, to run forGovernor of Hawaii. The city's Managing DirectorKirk Caldwell served as acting mayor untilPeter Carlisle was elected in a special election on September 18.
• Louisville, Kentucky: Incumbent mayorJerry Abramson declined to run for a third consecutive term in order to run forLieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 2011.Greg Fischer was elected as the successor.
• New Orleans, Louisiana: Incumbent mayorRay Nagin was term-limited out of office.Mitch Landrieu was elected as the new mayor on February 6.
• Washington, D.C.: Incumbent mayorAdrian Fenty was defeated in the Democratic primary byVincent C. Gray, who then went on to win the general election.

Approximately 82.5 million people voted.^[16] Turnout increased relative tothe previous U.S. midterm elections without any significant shift in voters' political identification.^[17]

Bold indicates a change in control. Note that not all states held gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2010.

• Abramson, Paul; Aldrich, John; Rohde, David (2010).Change and Continuity in the 2008 Elections.doi:10.4135/9781483330846.ISBN 9781604265200.
• Bullock, Charles S., et al.Key States, High Stakes: Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Elections (2011)
• Jacobson, Gary C. (2011)."The Republican Resurgence in 2010".Political Science Quarterly.126:27–52.doi:10.1002/j.1538-165X.2011.tb00693.x.
• Sabato, Larry.Who Got in the Booth? A Look Back at the 2010 Elections (2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to2010 elections in the United States.

• 2010 Midterm Election Debates onC-SPAN
• Wesleyan Media Project: 2010 Political Advertising Analysis atWesleyan University

National newspapers

• Elections 2010 atThe New York Times
• Campaign 2010 atThe Washington Post

National radio

• Election 2010 atNPR

National TV

• 2010 Election atABC News
• Campaign 2010 onC-SPAN
• Campaign 2010 atCBS News
• Election Center atCNN
• Elections atFox News
• Decision 2010 atMSNBC

• 2010 elections in the United States
• General elections in the United States
• November 2010 in the United States
• United States midterm elections

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