2022 United States midterm elections

The 2022 midterms were a series of local, state, and federal elections in the United States on November 8, 2022. These included elections for all 435 members of the US House of Representatives, 35 US senators, 39 state and territorial governorships, and the majority of state legislative seats. Tensions were high between Republicans and Democrats for a wide variety of reasons. President Joe Biden was unpopular with many Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, and because of this and the general historical trend of the president's party suffering major losses during midterms, many people predicted that this would be a "red wave" year comparable to 2014, and while polling wasn't quite as bullish as what many pundits were saying, it still suggested that Democrats were in for a bad time. However, for various reasons, this red wave didn't quite pan out, and this became the first midterm since 2002 in which the incumbent president's party didn't suffer major losses. Republicans won the House, but barely, while Democrats slightly expanded their Senate majority, governorships, and control of state legislatures.
==Background==
After Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and Democrats Reverend and flipped both of Georgia's Senate seats, Democrats held a federal trifecta for the first time in a decade. However, their narrow 50–50 majority combined with having two obstructive senators on top of an unfriendly Supreme Court limited what the Democrats could accomplish. That, rampant inflation, and the general historical trend of a president's party underperforming in the midterms, meant that many people thought the Republicans were poised for huge gains.
===Virginia gubernatorial election===
Virginia's gubernatorial race was the most watched U.S. election of 2021. This is because Virginia uniquely holds its statewide elections on the off-years, and better-than-expected victory in 2017 was seen as an early bellwether of Democrats' success in the 2018 midterm elections. The Democrats nominated former governor the GOP, businessman The election was very divisive, with Youngkin focusing on the then-popular moral panic of critical race theory and also his opposition to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions;In Virginia, Republicans see education, curriculum fears as a path to victory, Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC News 17 October 2021 however, Youngkin wisely tried to distance himself from the unpopular former president Donald Trump.Tonight Is a Test of What Trumpism Could Be Without Trump, David A. Graham, The Atlantic 2 November 2021 Ultimately, Youngkin won by two points in a state that Biden had won by ten points,Virginia Governor, CNN and Republicans flipped seven seats in the state House, flipping the chamber.Virginia certifies election results, but 2 recounts loom, Denise Lavoie, Associated Press 15 November 2021 Perhaps even more surprising was the concurrent governors' election in New Jersey, where incumbent was against election denierEight Times Jack Ciattarelli Lied About Headlining a Trump “Stop the Steal” Rally, Insider NJ, 16 September 2021 and while Murphy still won, it was only by a narrow margin of around three points.New Jersey Governor, CNN This was seen as a sign that the Democrats were losing suburban support and a bad omen for their chances in the midterms.
===Redistricting battles===
With the results of the 2020 census in, every state was required to change its legislative map to account for changes in population. While some states like Colorado and Michigan were trying out independent commissions of map drawers for the first time and ended up with relatively fair maps, in other states it quickly turned into a race to see who could gerrymander the hardest. Lowlights include Tennessee breaking apart Nashville into multiple pieces to get rid of the Democrat-leaning fifth district,Tennessee, FiveThirtyEight Texas eliminating as many remotely competitive districts as possible,Texas, FiveThirtyEight and Ron DeSantis forcing a map which was too extreme a gerrymander for even the Republican-dominated Florida state legislature.Florida, FiveThirtyEight North Carolina's map was so bad that it was struck down by the state Supreme Court,North Carolina's Supreme Court strikes down redistricting maps that gave GOP an edge, Associated Press, 5 February 2022 and Ohio saw a protracted battle where the state legislature repeatedly tried to pass a map that the state Supreme Court had repeatedly found unconstitutional.Out of bounds? Why Ohio’s redistricting fight matters., Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor 28 July 2022
Even some of the Democratic gerrymanders were aggressive, such as Illinois's map, which had only three Republican-leaning seats,Illinois, FiveThirtyEight and New York's map, which left only four Republican-leaning seats (this one was struck down).New York court rejects congressional maps drawn by Democrats, Marina Villeneuve, Associated Press 27 April 2022 Nevada also had an interesting gerrymander, where Democrats split the safely blue 1st district to make it easier for them to win the 3rd and 4th, even if all three districts only become narrowly blue in the process.Nevada, FiveThirtyEight Federal courts tried to strike down notorious racial gerrymanders in states like Alabama and Louisiana, but the Supreme Court stayed the orders until after the midterms, when it will take up the cases;Supreme Court blocks order to create two Black congressional districts in Louisiana, Mark Ballard, The Advocate 28 June 2022Merrill v. Milligan, U.S. Supreme Court 7 February 2022 depending upon the ruling, this could end up further weakening the Voting Rights Act by removing the ability for minorities to fight for more representative districts in federal courts.How the Supreme Court’s New Gerrymandering Case Threatens the Voting Rights Act, Michael Li and Yurij Rudensky, Brennan Center 29 September 2022 Despite all the chaos, the results of the redistricting may have actually benefitted Democrats, at least relatively to the previous maps that were in use. That is because six of the seven districts that were eliminated in reapportionment were in rural, overwhelmingly Republican regions, while Democrats were able to win four of the seven new districts. Additionally, the general trend of populations moving away from rural regions and towards urban centers made it easier to draw compact urban districts, which benefit Democrats.Did Redistricting Cost Democrats The House?, Nathaniel Rakich and Elena Mejia, FiveThirtyEight 1 December 2022
===Dobbs v. Jackson===
Despite the Democrats' trifecta in the elected branches, they didn't have full control of the American government. The Supreme Court of the United States is nonpartisan on paper, but in the last forty years or so it became increasingly partisan. A low point came in 2016, when Antonin Scalia died and Mitch McConnell refused to hold hearings for a potential successor to be appointed by Barack Obama, saying that it was too close to an election to appoint a successor (never mind that this wasn't a rule before), gambling that he could allow a GOP president (who became Trump) to appoint a judge instead. Naturally, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, McConnell didn't give the same luxury to Trump's successor, which resulted in conservative justices having a 6–3 majority on the Supreme Court over liberal ones. These justices spent years trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, which they finally accomplished in 2022 with the ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a 5–4 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, putting the question of abortion up to the states.Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Oyez The problem was, the right to an abortion is broadly popular throughout the U.S.,Majority of Americans don’t want Roe overturned, Laura Santhanam, PBS 19 May 2022 and the bans that multiple states began to implement were very unpopular.States passing abortion bans reflect what only a small minority of their constituents actually want, Jasmine Mithani, The 19th 24 October 2022 Shortly after the decision, voters in Kansas voted decisively to protect abortion rights during a referendum despite Kansas being a pretty red state.Voters in Kansas decide to keep abortion legal in the state, rejecting an amendment, Dylan Lysen, Laura Ziegler, and Blaise Mesa, NPR 3 August 2022 This gave Democrats a winning issue on which to campaign during a time when many prominent concerns like inflation didn't seem to be in their favor.
===Special elections===
In addition to the elections in Virginia, there were numerous other special elections that were watched as potential indicators of the midterms. Initially, most of them had the results you'd expect, with seven House elections in early-mid 2021 that all had results roughly in line with their There was additionally a to recall California governor (and former husband of spearheaded by Larry Elder, which miserably failed because Elder is a complete crank. However, after the Virginia elections, the results of these elections started to look bad for Democrats, notably when Texas Republican won by over seven points in a Democrat-leaning district.Republicans flip U.S. House seat in South Texas, historically a Democratic stronghold, Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune 14 June 2022 However, after the Dobbs decision, things began to look better for Democrats; while they still lost in Nebraska's 1st district and Minnesota's 1st district, the results were much narrower than what you would expect in these deep-red districts.House District 1: Nebraska Special Election Results, CNNHouse District 1: Minnesota Special Election Results, CNN Additionally, Democrat Mary Peltola flipped Alaska's only House seat in a major upset,Democrat Mary Peltola tops Sarah Palin to win U.S. House special election in Alaska, Deepa Shivaram, NPR 1 September 2022 while Democrat Pat Ryan also won in a Republican-leaning district in New York.House District 19: New York Special Election Results, CNN While Democrats' momentum had seemingly slowed down in the weeks before the midterms, the preceding special elections already showed a mixed bag for both parties.
==U.S. House results==
Ultimately, the House was a mixed bag for both parties. It took over a week to determine which party was the winnerRepublicans flip the House, Politico, November 16, 2017 because the results in many districts were so close, with 11 seats being decided by less than a 1% margin. Ultimately, Republicans flipped twenty-one Democratic-held districts, while Democrats flipped nine Republican districts. Of the seven new districts created due to reapportionment, Republicans won three of them while Democrats won the other four, and of the seven districts eliminated due to reapportionment, Republicans lost six while Democrats lost only one. This added up to a net +9 gain for Republicans, and when all was said and done Republicans had a 222–213 majority. Notable results include:
* Colorado—Democrat narrowly won Colorado's new 8th district, which is very competitive and has a large Latino population.[Democrat Yadira Caraveo wins competitive District 8 race to represent Colorado’s newest congressional district], Bente Birkeland, CPR 9 November 2022 The closest House race of the cycle was in Colorado's 3rd district, which is pretty red but is represented by the extreme Lauren Boebert, who was thrown into a surprisingly competitive race. While she was reelected, it was by only 546 votes.Lauren Boebert officially wins U.S. Congressional District 3 in Colorado after recount, Tony Keith, 11 News 12 December 2022
* Florida—This state is one of the major reasons why Democrats lost the House, as Republicans won four additional seats here while Democrats lost three. The horrific gerrymander here didn't even turn out to be necessary; Republicans would have performed just as well under the previous map, although the racial gerrymander definitely did cost his seat.Analysis shows Ron DeSantis’ map kept Jax seat red, but cost GOP a shot at a Tampa seat, Jacob Ogles, Florida Politics 7 December 2022 On the bright side, Maxwell Frost, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and is the first Gen Z House member, did win the Orlando-based 10th district,Maxwell Frost elected as the first Gen Z member of Congress, Elena Moore, NPR 8 November 2022 but on the other hand Anna Paulina Luna won the Tampa-area 13th district.Republican Anna Paulina Luna flips Florida seat in 13th Congressional District, Jiselle Lee, PBS 8 November 2022
* New York—This state is the other big reason that Democrats didn't win the House. Republicans flipped four seats and Democrats lost a few other seats that could have been competitive. This has been attributed to a few factors, such as dissatisfaction with former governor Andrew Cuomo and just plain incompetence from the state's Democratic Party. Particularly embarrassing was the case of who was the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; formerly representing the 18th district, he decided to run for reelection in the neighboring 17th district because he thought it would be easier to win in, forcing out the Democratic incumbent who then had to run in the 10th district where he lost in the primary.Dan Goldman wins NY primary in 10th Congressional District race, Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist 24 August 2022 Despite being (let us remind you) the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he paid almost no attention to his own reelection, and ended up losing in an upset to Republican Results: Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney loses his bid for reelection against Republican Michael Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District election, Hanna Kang and Dorothy Cucci, Business Insider 9 November 2022 And to add irony to the story, Pat Ryan, the Democrat who ended up running in the 18th district, actually won his reelection.Results: Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan defeats Republican state Rep. Colin Schmitt in New York's 18th Congressional District election, Hanna Kang and Rebecca Cohen, Business Insider 10 November 2022 Another notable election was in the wealthy Long Island-based 3rd district, where Republican George Santos beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman by seven points in a district that Biden won by ten points. However, Santos would soon come under scrutiny when it turned out that he falsified most of his résumé.'We were duped': How George Santos raised money from wealthy GOP donors while lying about his resume, Brian Schwartz, CNBC 9 November 2023 Later, this spiraled into reports that he also lied about his high school, his college, his job, his source of campaign funds, his charity donations, his marriage, his sexuality, his religion, the reason for his mother's death, the reason for his grandmother's death, and much more."Here’s Every Single Lie Told by George Santos" by Matt Strieb, NYMag Intelligencer, 2022 January 23 From allegedly stealing from a fundraiser intended to help save the life of a military veteran's dog, to making false claims that he lost four employees to the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, no lie, scam, or scheme seemed too egregious for Mr. Santos."George Santo's 11 Most Absurd Lies And cons (That We Know About So Far)" by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, 2023 January 18
* North Carolina—North Carolina ended up being a surprising ace in the hole for Democrats despite disappointing results in statewide races, as the state's Supreme Court drew a fair map to replace an attempted Republican gerrymander. easily won the newly-created Charlotte-based 14th district,North Carolina 14th Congressional District Election Results, The New York Times while State Senator beat football player and election denier in an upset, flipping the 13th district.Trump-Backed Starling Bo Hines Falls in Surprise Loss in North Carolina House Race, Prem Thakker, The New Republic 9 November 2022
* Ohio—This was another state where Democrats did surprisingly well, but unlike in North Carolina where they were aided by a fair map, in Ohio they were dealing with a gerrymander that the state's Supreme Court would rule unconstitutional. easily won reelection in the 9th district despite it being redrawn to being Republican-leaning, making her the longest-serving woman in the House.Results: Kaptur defeats Majewski for Ohio 9th Congressional district, WTOL 8 November 2022 won an upset victory against Trump fan and former Miss Ohio in the Akron-based 13th district,Sykes wins Ohio’s 13th Congressional District Race, Taylor Bruck, Spectrum News 1 9 November 2022 while defeated thirteen-term incumbent in another upset in the Cincinnati-based 1st district.Ohio First Congressional District Election Results, The New York Times This exposed Ohio's congressional map as being a Tullymander, as despite Republicans drawing the map to favor them as much as possible, Ohio's House delegation went from being 12–4 Republican before the midterms to 10–5 Republican after.
* Washington—Washington's 3rd district had perhaps the most amusing election of the cycle. was the original incumbent of this red district, but after she had voted to impeach Donald Trump following the 2021 U.S. coup attempt, far-right challenger Joe Kent primaried her. Kent, having ties to White nationalism and militia groups.GOP’s links to extremism surface in congressional primary, Brian Slodysko, Associated Press 27 July 2022 was understandably too extreme for even this red district, so Democrat won in an upset.Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez defeats Trump-backed Joe Kent, flipping seat for Democrats, Melissa Santos, Axios 12 November 2022 With this victory, it also means that Democrats won every single district that borders the Pacific Ocean. Interestingly, another Republican who voted to impeach Trump, won reelection in Washington's 4th district.Washington 4th Congressional District Results, The New York Times
==U.S. Senate results==
The results in the Senate were a bit more decisive, with Democrats slightly expanding their majority. Only one seat was flipped, which was in Pennsylvania, where Lieutenant Governor defeated Mehmet Oz in order to succeed Pat Toomey. This was the first election cycle in American history to date in which every incumbent senator who sought reelection won reelection.Warnock Win Seals Perfect 2022 for Senators Seeking Re-election, Greg Giroux, Bloomberg Law 7 December 2022 Some other notable races include:
* Alaska—This actually ended up being a competitive race between two Republicans, as many Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans backed Lisa Murkowski so that the Trump-backed wouldn't win. Murkowski actually pulled a similar thing off in 2010, when she defeated Tea Partier Joe Miller as a write-in candidate.Murkowski wins Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, Jeremy Hsieh and Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media 23 November 2022
* Arizona— won his first full term in the Senate and defeated pro-Trump venture capitalist Blake Masters,Arizona U.S. Senate Election Results, The New York Times who became notorious for his creepy campaign ads.Watch the creepy Blake Masters campaign ad where he quietly plays with a silenced handgun, Rob Beschizza, Boingboing 12 November 2022
* Georgia—Reverend Raphael Warnock won his first full term by defeating football player and deadbeat dadHerschel Walker’s son lashes out at dad after news report the Senate GOP nominee paid for an abortion in 2009, Zoë Richards and Marc Caputo, NBC News 4 October 2022 Like the last Georgia Senate election, this one also went to a runoff, although Warnock did receive more votes than Walker on election day as well.Live Election Results: Raphael Warnock Wins the Georgia Senate Runoff, The New Yorker
* Nevada—Incumbent Democrat won reelection against Republican who was considered one of the more normal Republican Senate nominees (which isn't really much of an accomplishment considering his competition) in the closest Senate election of the cycle, being decided by around 8,000 votes. When this race was called four days after election day, it was clear that Democrats kept their majority.Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto wins Nevada Senate race, Dustin Jones, MPR 12 November 2022
* New Hampshire—While there was speculation that New Hampshire's popular governor would run, he pointedly decided to take a pass (if not have the balls to subsequently denounce what came next) and run for re-election as governor (since New Hampshire has two-year terms), so the actual nominee ended up being the election denier and conspiracy theorist Sununu says he won't endorse "conspiracy-theory type" Bolduc in Senate Republican primary, Josh Rogers, New Hampshire Public Radio 19 August 2022 Naturally, incumbent Democratic Senator won this one, while Sununu cruised to a fourth term as governor.Senate: New Hampshire, CNN
* North Carolina—Democrats tend to come very close in statewide races here, but always narrowly losing to Republicans, with being the only recent exception. The same thing happened when former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court lost to Representative to succeed the retiring Senate: North Carolina, CNN
* Ohio—While the state has become much redder in recent years, Democrats had a strong nominee in Representative while the Republicans nominated the politically inexperienced J. D. Vance. While Ryan lost, he is credited with inspiring turnout among Democratic-leaning voters to the point that they were able to win multiple competitive House races.Senate: Ohio, CNN
* Utah—Right-leaning independent who is famous for getting over 20% of Utah's vote during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, challenged Republican incumbent Mike Lee, who is considered one of the most conservative Senators. McMullin convinced the Democratic Party in Utah to not run a candidate so he could take on Lee himself, and pledged that if elected he would not caucus with either party (while unusual, this has some precedent in the Senate). While Lee won by a little over ten points, McMullin had the best performance of any non-Republican in Utah since 1976.Senate: Utah, CNN
* Wisconsin—When he was reelected in 2016, Ron Johnson said he wouldn't run for another term, but of course he broke that promise. However, it was the closest race of his career, as he only managed to eke out a 1% win against Democratic Lieutenant Governor Senate: Wisconsin, CNN
==Governors' results==
The Democrats did relatively well in the 2022 gubernatorial elections, netting two seats and holding on to most of their competitive incumbencies, however, a few incumbent Republicans performed well too. The following governorships flipped in 2022:
* Arizona—Despite being a MAGA lunatic in a state that tends to reject such extremists, was heavily favored to win the governorship, since Arizona Secretary of State didn't campaign that much. However, Hobbs pulled off an upset, breaking a Republican trifecta in the state, while Lake followed in the footsteps of her idol and claimed election fraud (without evidence). A major source of conspiracy theories was that in Maricopa County, which contains 62% of the population, a bit more than a quarter of their voting tabulation machines malfunctioned; this despite the chairman of the electoral commission, himself a Republican, getting out in front of the problem as soon as it became evident and carefully explaining how the machines also had a backup method built in, which enabled voters to cast a ballot that would then be hand-counted. Unsurprisingly, the underlying issue was not actually a conspiracy against Republicans and turned out to be utterly mundane; some older printers weren't hot enough to make dark enough lines on ballots, which prevented the machines from properly reading them, and by early afternoon the voting machine technicians turned up the heat and got them to work.Kari Lake loses her legal challenge to the results of the Arizona governor's race, NPR 24 December 2022https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/11/politics/maricopa-county-printer-investigation-2022-election/index.html
* Maryland—Popular moderate Republican governor was term-limited, and when election denier defeated Hogan's chosen successor in the primaries, everyone knew that this governorship would flip regardless of whether there was a red wave.Trump-backed election denier Dan Cox wins Maryland's GOP primary for governor, Henry Gomez, NBC News 19 July 2022 Unsurprisingly, the Democratic nominee won, and he became the state's first Black governor.Maryland governor's race: 2022 election results, WBAL TV, 9 November 2022
* Massachusetts—This was also not a surprise, as the incumbent chose to retire after two terms and the Republican who tried to succeed him was the far more conservative Democrat won, becoming Massachusetts' first female governor as well as the first lesbian governor in the country.Results: Democratic state Attorney General Maura Healey defeats Trump-backed Republican Geoff Diehl in Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Hanna Kang, Business Insider 8 November 2022
* Nevada—Ultimately, Democrats' only major setback in terms of state governments this cycle was here, as Clark County Sheriff narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent breaking a Democratic trifecta.Las Vegas-area GOP Sheriff Joe Lombardo beats Nevada's incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak, Lucia Starbuck, NPR 11 November 2022 However, Democrats kept control of both houses of the state legislature.Democrats expand control of Assembly, keep state Senate, Colton Lochhead and Taylor R. Avery, Las Vegas Review-Journal 16 November 2022
* Northern Mariana Islands—While it's a territorial race that received considerably less attention than the ones in the states, their incumbent governor is incredibly corrupt even by Saipan's dispiriting standards.CNMI governor impeached for corruption, felony, neglect of duty; Senate prepares for trial, Haidee Eugenio Gilbert, The Guam Daily Post 12 January 2022 The Lieutenant Governor ran against Torres as an independent and defeated him after a runoff.UPDATED: Team Palacios-Apatang wins, K-Andrea Evarose Limol, Marianas Variety 28 November 2022
Some other notable races occurred in:
*Florida—Ron DeSantis defeated the Democratic nominee, former Republican governor and Democratic representative by over 19 points, even winning in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Tampa, which are all typically considered Democratic strongholds. This election was a grim sign of just how scarily far Florida had moved to the right in only four years.Florida governor race: Ron DeSantis wins in a landslide over Democrat Charlie Crist, Zac Anderson and Kathryn Varn, Tallahassee Democrat 8 November 2022
*Georgia—Despite coming very close to defeating in 2018, this time it was not so close, with Abrams losing by 7.5 points. The fact that Kemp rejected Trump's election denialism probably saved him when Republicans who embraced it, like Herschel Walker on the same ballot, fell to Democrats in these swing states.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp fends off Democrat Stacey Abrams for a second term, NBC News projects, Emma Kinery, CNBC Abrams also had some issues that came from making herself a national figure, which raised questions as to how much she was focusing on the state she was campaigning to run as governor, plus her campaign was generally a complete mess with its spending (they set records for fundraising and still ended up over a million dollars in debt) and got caught making some fairly shady financial dealings with non-profits her campaign manager personally ran.https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/incredibly-bad-abrams-big-spending-led-to-cash-crunch/BY4PHK2A65F5FFQTYLKMNQE5FI/https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2022/10/24/stacey-abrams-fair-fight-action-00061348
*Kansas—While this is a red state, memories of their former Republican governor Sam Brownback were bad enough that it allowed incumbent Democrat to defeat and win another term.Laura Kelly holds off Derek Schmidt to remain a Democratic governor in Republican Kansas, Dylan Lysen, Rose Conlon, and Blaise Mesa, NPR 9 November 2022
*Oregon—While this is a blue state that normally wouldn't even be competitive, billionaires like Nike CEO astroturfed former Democrat as an independent candidate. Johnson's backers were worried about environmental regulations that Democratic nominee supported.Nike co-founder Phil Knight donated another $2 million to Betsy Johnson in September, Hillary Borrud, KGW8 4 October 2022 However, when it was clear that Johnson was going nowhere, many of her billionaire supporters jumped ship to the Republican candidate which allowed Kotek to regain ground and eventually win.Tina Kotek fends off two challengers in Oregon gubernatorial race, Mariana Alfaro, Washington Post 10 November 2022
*Pennsylvania—While this race was expected to be competitive, Republicans nominated January 6 participantHow Doug Mastriano promoted election lies between Election Day and Jan. 6, Robby Brod, WHYY 9 June 2022 Doug Mastriano, whose extremist rhetoric and poor campaigning jeopardized any chances Republicans had at winning in this state. State attorney general Josh Shapiro (no relation to Ben Shapiro) ended up crushing Mastriano by almost 15 points.Democrat Josh Shapiro wins Pennsylvania governor’s race, Marc Levy, Associated Press 9 November 2022
*Wisconsin—The Dobbs v. Jackson decision put abortion in legal limbo in Wisconsin, and the Republican nominee said he would support a full ban on abortion, but fortunately incumbent Democrat defeated him.Tony Evers wins governor’s race in Wisconsin, Scott Bauer, PBS 9 November 2022
==Other results==
* State legislatures—Democrats flipped the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,Democrats win control of Pennsylvania state House after picking up 12 seats, Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer, WESA 17 November 2022 the Minnesota Senate (giving them their first trifecta there since 2014),Democrats win Minnesota Senate to control state government, Steve Karnowski, Associated Press 9 November 2022 and both houses of the Michigan state legislature, giving them a trifecta in Michigan for the first time since 1984.Democrats win control of Michigan Legislature for 1st time in decades, Craig Mauger, Detroit News 9 November 2022 Democrats also won a supermajority in the Vermont legislature, allowing them to overturn Republican governor vetoes,How Democrats secured a historic majority in the Vermont House, Lola Duffort, VTDigger 9 November 2022 while Republicans conversely failed to gain supermajorities in North Carolina and Wisconsin, meaning that Roy Cooper and Tony Evers will continue to be able to veto Republican legislation.NC Republicans fall one seat short of supermajority in General Assembly, Ely Portillo, WFAE 9 November 2022Wisconsin Republicans fail to achieve veto-proof majority, Bridgit Bowden, Wisconsin Public Radio 9 November 2022 This was the first time that the president's party didn't lose any state legislatures during the midterm elections since 1934,Is 2022 the first time since 1934 that the US president’s party retained its control of all state legislative chambers in a midterm election?, Todd Butterworth, The Nevada Independent and this meant that, for the first time in over a decade, more Americans lived in Democrat-controlled states than Republican ones.Democrats now govern more Americans at the state level than Republicans, Aaron Blake, Washington Post 8 December 2022
*Secretaries of State—One type of election that is usually ignored by the majority of voters is that of the Secretary of State. In this case, however, coverage was given to far-right candidates who claimed they would not have certified the results of the 2020 presidential election, and were part of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, consisting of nominees who have attended QAnon conferences. Most of them lost to Democrats, though, including in battleground states like Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada, with of Indiana being the only one of these candidates to win.Democrats’ quietly effective strategy for defeating election deniers, Christian Paz, Vox 19 November 2022
*Ballot initiatives—In every state where there was an abortion-related ballot measure, the pro-choice side won, even in deep-red states like Kentucky and Montana—notably, abortion was made fully legal in Michigan after being in legal limbo for some time.Voters deliver ringing endorsement of abortion rights on midterm ballot initiatives across the US, Veronica Stracqualursi, Devan Cole and Paul LeBlanc, CNN 9 November 2022 Slavery as a criminal punishment was outlawed in four states (yes, this was still a problem in 2022), although Louisiana rejected a similar measure (although to be fair it was because the measure was problematically worded).Four states voted to abolish slavery, but not Louisiana. Here's why, Max Matza, BBC News 10 November 2022 Drug-related measures were more mixed: Maryland and Missouri both voted to legalize cannabis and Colorado voted to legalize psilocybin, but Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota voted against cannabis legalization.A Mixed Bag: State Marijuana Ballot Initiatives in the 2022 Election Cycle, Kristine Blackwood, David J.M. Skillman, Bobby McMillin, Evelina J. Norwinski, Paul A. Howard, Scarlett Bickerton, and Lucas Gorak, Arnold & Porter 9 December 2022
==Aftermath==
Like the last last time when Trump refused to concede defeat, other Republicans decided to take cues from the former president. Two notable examples come from Arizona, in the form of unsuccessful candidates Kari Lake (for governor) and Mark Finchem (for Secretary of State). Speaking of Trump, he announced that he will be running for president again in 2024,Former President Donald Trump announces a White House bid for 2024, Gabby Orr, Kristen Holmes and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN 16 November 2022 although this time many Republicans were not amused as Trump's handpicked candidates were blamed for the Republicans' poor performance in the midterms.How Trump Cost Republicans the Senate, Dan McLaughlin, National Review 19 December 2022 Overall, this set the stage for a bitterly divisive 2024 Republican primary.
However, this did not phase anything. Any setbacks did not matter in the end as Trump managed to not only win the primaries, but won the 2024 presidential election as well.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Elections