United States

The 2018 midterm elections

Against this backdrop, Americans went to the polls on November 6 to fill 35 U.S. Senate seats (26 of which were held by Democrats) and to elect a new House of Representatives and 36 governors. When the votes were counted, the Democrats had regained control of the House of Representatives, the Republicans had increased their majority in the Senate, and both parties were able to claim significant victories in the gubernatorial elections—most notably with Republicans holding on to the governorships of Florida and Ohio, while Democrats retook the state executives in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois. The congressional election was originally characterized as a disappointment for Democrats, largely because of losses by some high-profile hopefuls, but, as the results of too-close-to-call contests were reported in the coming days, it became clear that there actually had been a “blue wave”: Democrats picked up 40 House seats, the largest gain by the party in that body since it added 49 seats in the 1974 post-Watergate election. A record number of women had run for office, and nearly one-fourth of the members of the new House of Representatives were women. Despite opposition from some Democrats who felt their party needed younger, fresher leadership, Nancy Pelosi once again was chosen to be speaker of the House.