Midterm elections decide which party controls Congress for the second half of a presidential term, and with it whether the President can pass legislation, confirm nominees easily, and avoid investigations. They draw fewer voters than presidential elections, but their results often redirect national politics.
This guide explains who is elected and for how long, how the House and Senate differ, what else appears on the ballot, and the patterns that shape midterm results. Every office and process links to a full entry.
The President's party has lost seats in the House in nearly every midterm since the Civil War, with gains only in 1934, 1998, and 2002. Political scientists attribute the pattern to voters checking the party in power, lower turnout among the President's supporters, and the return of seats won on the President's coattails. Midterm turnout is lower than in presidential years, often between 40 and 50 percent of eligible voters. Midterms frequently produce divided government, as in 1994, 2006, 2010, 2018, and 2022.
Midterm ballots carry far more than congressional races. Most governors are elected in midterm years, along with thousands of state legislators, attorneys general, secretaries of state, judges, mayors, school board members, and sheriffs. Many states also put ballot measures before voters. Because state legislatures draw district lines and administer elections, these races can shape national politics for a decade.
Federal elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year. Those that fall between presidential elections are called midterms. States run the elections under their own rules, within limits set by the Constitution and federal law, and secretaries of state or election boards certify the results. Winners take office in January, when a new Congress convenes on January 3.
District maps, primaries, campaign money, and voting rules shape the outcome before ballots are cast. In 2025 several states redrew congressional maps in the middle of the decade, starting with Texas and followed by California and others, an unusual round of partisan redistricting that both parties defended as a response to the other. Candidates are chosen in primaries months earlier, and incumbents win reelection at very high rates. Supporters and critics continue to debate term limits, independent redistricting commissions, and campaign finance rules.
All 435 voting members of the House are elected every two years from districts drawn by state legislatures or commissions after each census. Representatives must be at least 25, citizens for seven years, and residents of the state they represent. The District of Columbia and five territories also elect nonvoting delegates. The party that wins a majority chooses the Speaker and controls every committee, so even a few seats can decide who runs the chamber.
Senators serve six-year terms in three classes, so roughly one-third of the 100 seats is elected every two years and the Senate is never replaced all at once. Senators must be at least 30, citizens for nine years, and residents of their state, and since the Seventeenth Amendment of 1913 they have been elected directly by voters. When a seat becomes vacant, most states let the governor appoint a temporary senator until a special election. In 2026, 33 regularly scheduled seats and two special elections are on the ballot.
After the votes are counted, the new Congress convenes on January 3. Learn how it legislates in how a bill becomes law, how the presidency is decided in the Electoral College explained, and how power is divided in the three branches.