The election schedule is also staggered so that no more than one Senate seat from each state is up for grabs during any single election, midterm or otherwise.Īccording to constitutional scholars, there were a couple of reasons why the Founding Fathers decided on a six-year term for senators with staggered elections every two years. There can be more Senate seats up for election if a senator dies in office or resigns before the end of his or her term. That's why every midterm election there are at least 33 or 34 Senate seats up for a vote. Senate elections are staggered so that one class is up for election every two years. Instead, according to Article I, section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution, the Senate is divided into three "classes." In the modern Senate, each class consists of 33 or 34 senators. But not every Senate seat is up for election every six years. Senators serve six-year terms, the longest of any elected official in the federal government. Keep reading to learn how midterms got started, what positions are up for election and why it's the civic duty of every American to cast their ballot in these off-year elections.
The high turnout was likely due to the polarizing nature of then-President Donald Trump who energized Democratic voters to go to the polls. The 2018 midterms were an outlier, with 53 percent of voting-age Americans going to the polls. That means, on average, 60 percent of American voters stay home on midterm Election Day. The average turnout of eligible midterm voters from 1972-2016 was a miserable 39.3 percent. Those are even more reasons why midterm elections are a big deal.ĭespite the obvious political importance of midterms, shockingly few Americans actually vote in them. And on the rare occasion when a president is caught committing a crime, it's Congress that votes whether to impeach. The party that controls Congress has as much, if not more, political power than the party sitting in the White House.Ĭongress not only writes the laws and passes the spending bills, it also decides whether or not to approve the president's Supreme Court nominees and other major political appointees. When you add the 34 Senate seats at play during midterms to the 435 House seats, you begin to understand the political significance of a strong showing on Election Day. That's 435 separate races spread across all 50 states. House of Representatives is up for grabs during midterm elections. While the presidential election isn't decided by popular vote (remember the electoral college?), midterm elections give Americans a chance to vote directly for the politicians who will likely have the greatest impact on their daily lives.įor example, every single seat in the U.S. They are a chance for Americans to go to the polls and vote for their representatives in Congress, state legislatures and local governments. For this reason, many political observers look to the midterms as a referendum on a sitting president's performance and a bellwether for which party will take control of the White House.īut midterm elections are about much more than simply testing the political winds for the next presidential election. They're called midterms because they coincide with the halfway point of a president's four-year term. Midterm elections are held in even-numbered years between presidential elections. Texans headed to the polls that date to vote in the state's first primary of the 2022 midterm elections. Candidate signage is seen on a hill near the Laredo Fire Department polling site March 1, 2022, in Laredo, Texas.