Midterm elections in theUnited States are thegeneral elections that are held near the midpoint of apresident's four-yearterm of office, onElection Day on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November. Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms include all 435 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in theUnited States Senate.
In addition, 34 of the 50U.S. states elect theirgovernors for four-year terms during midterm elections, whileVermont andNew 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 theirstate legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are manymayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety ofcitizen andlegislatively referred initiatives.
Special elections are often held in conjunction with regular elections,[1] so additional Senators, governors and other local officials may be elected to partial terms.
Midterm elections historically generate lowervoter turnout than presidential elections. While presidential elections 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.[2][3] Historically, midterm elections often see the president's partylose seats in Congress, and also frequently see the president's opposite-party opponents gain control of one or both houses of Congress.[4]
WhileArticle II, Section 1, Clause 1 of theUnited States Constitution sets theU.S. president's term of office to four years,Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 sets a two-year term for congressmembers elected to theU.S. House of Representatives.Article I, Section 3, Clause 1 then sets a six-year term for those elected to theU.S. Senate, withClause 2 dividing the chamber intothree "classes", so that approximately one-third of those seats are up for election every two years.[5]
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.[citation needed] 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".[6]
Midterm elections are regarded as a referendum on the sitting president's and/orincumbent party's performance.[7][8]
The party of the incumbent president tends to lose ground during midterm elections:[9] 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.
Since direct public midterm elections were introduced, in only eight of those (under presidentsWoodrow Wilson,Franklin D. Roosevelt,John F. Kennedy,Richard Nixon,Bill Clinton,George W. Bush,Donald Trump, andJoe Biden) has the president's party gained seats in the House or the Senate. Of those, only two (1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and 2002, George W. Bush) have seen the president's party gain seats inboth houses.
The losses suffered during a president's second midterm tend to be more pronounced than during their first midterm,[10] in what is described as a "six-year itch".
Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove tried to replicate that strategy this fall, hoping to keep the election from becoming a referendum on the president's leadership.
Americans shunned the opportunity to turn Tuesday's midterm elections into a referendum on President Bill Clinton's behavior, dashing Republican hopes of gaining seats in the House and Senate.
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