Upon entering the midterm elections, the Democratic Party was favored to gain control of the House, which they did as a consequence of strong performances in areas such as California, New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The results indicated, however, that there were few surprise victories (i.e. victories in likely or leaning Republican regions). While this was sufficient to gain a House victory for the Democratic Party, failure to win key tossup states in the Senate race crushed any chance to upset a favored Republican Party. Key victories by Mike Braun over Joe Donnelly in Indiana and Josh Hawley over Claire McCaskill in Montana brought disappointment to the Democratic Party, exacerbated further by extremely close losses in Georgia and Florida. Within the Senate, seats changed hands in Indiana, North Dakota, and Montana, favoring Republicans, and Nevada in favor of the Democrats. On the other hand, Democrats were able to flip seats in the race for Governor in the states of Michigan, New Mexico, Maine, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Kansa.
The current results (with 34 of 36 races called) indicate 23 Governor seats filled by the Democrats and 25 filled by the Republicans (with a net change of 7 in favor of the Democrats). Within the House, the Democrats took 220 seats to the Republicans’ 194, representing a net change of 27 seats (with 21 races left to the be called). Finally, the Senate results revealed 45 seats for the Democrats and 51 for the Republicans, with a net change of 2 seats and four races left to be called.
Tushar Dwivedi (class of 2020) eagerly awaits the conclusion of the midpoint elections.