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Tuesday (3 November) marks the date of the US midterm elections – a set of votes that are held at around the mid-point of a president’s four-year term of office.
This time around, US president Donald Trump and the Republicans are fighting to retain control of the House (lower chamber of Congress) and Senate (upper chamber of Congress) following a string of controversies since US president Trump took office in January 2025. Some, such as Trump’s Iran war, have seen substantial price rises in goods and fuel, and 23 US service members killed.
As it stands, the Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House. 218 seats are required for a majority. The Republicans currently have 219, while the Democrats have 214 – two seats are vacant. In the Senate, the Republicans hold 53 seats, with 51 required for a majority.
Throughout the campaign trail, Trump has made unfounded claims that Democrats would “bankrupt” families if they are elected as he pushed for votes in the pursuit of keeping complete Republican control of Congress. Failure to do so could see some checks and balances placed on Trump’s power.
Who is up for election?
There are 435 members of the House who each serve a fixed two-year term. Each member is to be elected in the midterm elections. Members of the US House of Representatives can run for re-election as many times as they want.
Elsewhere, 35 of 100 seats in the Senate are to be settled, with Senators serving six-year terms. States such as Texas, Ohio, Michigan and Georgia are proving to be battlegrounds for control of the Senate.
In 36 of the 50 states, voters will also elect a state governor.
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How to vote in the Midterms:
There are several ways by which those who are eligible to vote can do so, and not all of them have to be done on election day.
Early voting has begun in many places, allowing people to vote in person before Tuesday. Designated early voting periods vary, as do rules around when and where, but maps and further information can be found online.
Many states offer absentee and mail-in voting, though rules around eligibility do vary. Deadlines also apply in terms of requesting and returning the ballot.
Pope Leo XIV, a registered voter in Illinois, made history becoming the first sitting pontiff to vote in a secular election after applying for a mail-in ballot to vote in the midterms elections.
On election day itself, polling locations where people go in person to vote are determined by a voter’s residential address. The exact location of your polling place can be found by checking your voter registration.
When will we know the results?
Polls close at different times in each state and the votes then need to be counted, so there is no set time for when we will know all of the results of the midterm elections.
In some particularly tight races, it can take days or even weeks for a winner to be declared.
Why not read…
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