Midterm Elections

Because House members serve two-year terms and senators six-year staggered terms, federal elections every two years alternate between presidential years and midterms. In a midterm, all 435 House seats and about 33 or 34 Senate seats are contested, along with 36 governorships and thousands of state and local offices. Congress set the uniform date for federal elections, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, by laws passed in 1845 for presidential electors and 1872 for House members.

The President's party usually loses ground in midterms. Since World War II, the President's party has lost an average of about 25 House seats in midterm elections, and it has gained House seats only in 1998 and 2002 during that period. Political scientists attribute the pattern to voters' tendency to check the party in power, the absence of presidential coattails, and lower and more lopsided turnout. Midterm turnout is typically far below presidential-year turnout, although the 2018 midterm had the highest turnout since 1914, about half of eligible voters.

Midterm results often reshape governing, producing divided government that forces compromise or gridlock. Ahead of the November 3, 2026, midterms, several states redrew congressional maps in the middle of the decade in 2025, beginning with Texas in August and followed by California voters approving a counter-measure in November 2025, setting off a wider redistricting fight. Supporters of frequent elections say midterms keep the government accountable to voters, while critics say the constant campaign cycle discourages long-term governing.