US Midterm Elections 2022 Results & Mechanics

In US Midterm Elections 2022, 35 Senate seats (out of 100) and all 435 House of Representatives' seats were on the ballot.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives (lower chamber of the Congress) are re-elected every two years. This is called Midterm Election. The Senate (upper chamber) has 100 seats; two for each state. In every even-numbered year, roughly, one-third of the senators are elected for a six-year term.

Party with 218 seats controls the House of Representatives. Party with 51 seats controls the Senate. In case of a 50-50 split, Vice President has a casting vote. Governors are not part of the Congress and their impact is mostly local.

Results of 2022 Midterm Elections have been almost finalised.

In Senate, Democrats have won 50 seats and with a tie-breaking vote of Vice President, they again retain the control of Senate. Republicans are now at 49. One seat in Georgia would be decided on 6 December. Even if that seat is won by Republicans (less likely), Democrats would still control the Senate because of Vice President's tie-breaking vote.

Control of the House of Representatives is still undecided (11 races uncalled). Till the latest results were received, Republicans have won 217 seats (gaining 8 seats) and Democrats 207 (losing 7 seats). Most likely, the Republicans will control the House after winning 218 (or more) seats as they are slowly inching toward gaining the majority in the House.

For governors, 35 out of 36 seats were up for elections called. There were no elections for 14 seats. Democrats, having gained 2 seat, are at 24, while Republicans, having lost 2 seats, are at 25.

While Republicans have fallen well short of predictions, Democrats have shown considerable resilience and strength in 2022 Midterm Elections. Although, high inflation, rising crime and Biden's sinking approval ratings were expected to power "a red wave," yet, surprisingly, Republicans have won a slim majority in the House of Representatives.

Selection of weak candidates, having serious voter likeability issues, was the major cause of somewhat unexpected performance of Republicans. Voters also saw abortion issue as Republicans' extreme. Voters who considered abortion as most important issue, voted for Democrats.

Student debt relief and pardoning of many federal offences by Biden administration were other contributory factors that granted success to the Democrats.