United States midterm election - wikipedia United States midterm election `` Midterms '' redirects here. For other uses, see Midterm. This article is part of a series on the Politics of the United States of America Federal Government Constitution of the United States Law Taxation Legislature United States Congress House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan ( R ) Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy ( R ) Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ( D ) Congressional districts United States Senate President Mike Pence ( R ) President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch ( R ) President Pro Tempore Emeritus Patrick Leahy ( D ) Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R ) Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D ) Executive President of the United States Donald Trump ( R ) Vice President of the United States Mike Pence ( R ) Cabinet Federal agencies Executive Office Judiciary Supreme Court of the United States Chief Justice John Roberts Kennedy Thomas Ginsburg Breyer Alito Sotomayor Kagan Gorsuch Courts of Appeals District Courts ( list ) Other tribunals Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Off - year elections Political parties Democratic Republican Third parties Federalism State Government Governors Legislatures ( List ) State courts Local government Other countries Atlas Midterm elections in the United States refer to general elections in the United States that are held two years after the quadrennial ( four - year ) elections for the President of the United States ( i.e. near the midpoint of the four - year presidential term ). Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms are members of the United States Congress, including all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, and the full terms for 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate. In addition, 34 of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors to four - year terms during midterm elections, while Vermont and New 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 their state legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are many mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of citizen initiatives. Special elections are often held in conjunction with regular elections, so additional Senators, governors and other local officials may be elected to partial terms. Midterm elections usually generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections. While the latter have had turnouts of about 50 -- 60 % over the past 60 years, only about 40 percent of those eligible to vote actually go to the polls in midterm elections. Midterm elections usually see the president 's party lose seats in Congress, and also frequently see the president 's intraparty opponents gain power. Contents 1 Historical record of midterm elections 2 Comparison with other U.S. general elections 3 References 4 External links Historical record of midterm elections See also : Category : United States midterm elections. Midterm elections are sometimes regarded as a referendum on the sitting president 's and / or incumbent party 's performance. The party of the incumbent president tends to lose ground during midterm elections : over the past 21 midterm elections, the President 's party has lost an average 30 seats in the House, and an average 4 seats in the Senate ; moreover, in only two of those has the President 's party gained seats in both houses. Year Sitting President President 's Party Net gain / loss of President 's Party House seats Senate seats 2014 Barack Obama Democratic D - 13 D - 9 D - 63 D - 6 2006 George W. Bush Republican R - 30 R - 6 2002 R + 8 R + 2 1998 Bill Clinton Democratic D + 5 0 1994 D - 54 D - 8 1990 George H.W. Bush Republican R - 8 R - 1 1986 Ronald Reagan R - 5 R - 8 1982 R - 26 0 1978 Jimmy Carter Democratic D - 15 D - 3 Gerald Ford Republican R - 48 R - 4 1970 Richard Nixon R - 12 R + 1 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic D - 47 D - 3 1962 John F. Kennedy D - 4 D + 2 1958 Dwight D Eisenhower Republican R - 48 R - 13 1954 R - 18 R - 2 1950 Harry S Truman Democratic D - 28 D - 5 1946 D - 54 D - 11 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt D - 45 D - 8 1938 D - 72 D - 7 1934 D + 9 D + 9 1930 Herbert Hoover Republican R - 52 R - 8 1926 Calvin Coolidge R - 9 R - 7 1922 Warren Harding R - 77 R - 7 1918 Woodrow Wilson Democratic D - 22 D - 5 1914 D - 60 D + 4 1910 William Taft Republican R - 57 R - 3 Comparison with other U.S. general elections Basic rotation of U.S. general elections ( fixed - terms only ) Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Type Presidential Off - year Midterm Off - year Presidential President Yes No Yes Senate Class III ( 34 seats ) No Class I ( 33 seats ) No Class II ( 33 seats ) House All 435 seats No All 435 seats No All 435 seats Gubernatorial 11 states DE, IN, MO, MT, NH, NC, ND, UT, VT, WA, WV 2 states NJ, VA 36 states AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, WI, WY 3 states KY, LA, MS 11 states DE, IN, MO, MT, NH, NC, ND, UT, VT, WA, WV Other state and local offices Varies This table does not include special elections, which may be held to fill political offices that have become vacant between the regularly scheduled elections. As well as all six non-voting delegates of the U.S. House. As well as five non-voting delegates of the U.S. House. The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico instead serves a four - year term that coincides with the presidential term. The Governors of New Hampshire and Vermont are each elected to two - year terms. The other 48 state governors serve four - year terms. view talk References Jump up ^ `` Demand for Democracy ''. The Pew Center on the States. Archived from the original on 2017 - 12 - 03. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 13. Jump up ^ Desilver, D. ( 2014 ) Voter turnout always drops off for midterm elections, but why ? Pew Research Center, July 24, 2014. Jump up ^ Busch, Andrew ( 1999 ). Horses in Midstream. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 18 -- 21. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Baker, Peter ; VandeHei, Jim ( 2006 - 11 - 08 ). `` A Voter Rebuke For Bush, the War And the Right ''. Washington Post. Retrieved 2010 - 05 - 26. 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. Jump up ^ `` Election ' 98 Lewinsky factor never materialized ''. CNN. 1998 - 11 - 04. 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. External links `` Q&A : US mid-term elections ''. BBC News. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 26 May 2010. United States elections 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 1990 1991 1994 1995 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 See also Presidential elections Senate elections House elections Gubernatorial elections Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_midterm_election&oldid=813349849 '' Categories : Elections in the United States Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch فارسی Français Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano 日本 語 Norsk Português Suomi Svenska 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 3 December 2017, at 06 : 09. 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Question: who do you vote for in midterm elections
Answer: United States Congress