On 8th November, voting for the 2022 US midterm elections was held. Where the House of Representatives has 425 seats, and 35 of the Senate are up for contest, the states across the country will also be choosing their governor. The election will not only decide the fate of Mr. Biden’s presidency but also affect the world. Before going into “election 22″, it’s important to understand what a midterm election is
All you need to know about US midterm elections.
The USA is a presidential government with a two-party system. Currently, the democratic party is under the power under the presidency of Mr. Joe Biden. Like the parliament, the US also has a house known as a house of US congress, one of the three branches of power.
The house is composed of the house of representatives with 435 members with a term of 2 years; another house known as the Senate has 100 members with a 6-year tenure. Midterm elections are the elections held in the middle of a presidential term when all 425 seats of the House of Representatives and one-third of the seats are up for election.
Why are midterm elections important?
The house of representatives and the Senate play an essential role in bill passage and law-making. The house of representatives decides the laws to be voted on, while the Senate holds power to reject or approve the law. Currently, in the house of representatives, the democrats hold the majority by securing 222 seats, while republicans have 213 seats in the house.
The Senate, on the other side, has equal representation from both houses. Still, vice president Kamala Harris, a permanent member of the Senate, holds these bread-breaking democrats and hence holds power in the house, making passing laws easy for Biden.
US Midterm election results
This year Biden’s popularity has not been great so far. According to the poll organized by the Associated Press north centre for public research, only 39% of US adults approve of Mr. Biden’s performance as president; however, the number has increased to 45%.
This year the republic party might win the majority in the house. Due to extreme political division, analysts believe only the outcome of 35 seats of the house and five races of the Senate are unpredictable. Besides these major events/policies, voter turnout (which party can get more people to vote also plays a vital role in the election).
Donald Trump’s preferred candidate for this election performance would also signal the upcoming turn on the democracy of the United States of America. The voting rules also affect the results. The state rules of places like Florida allow the process of the mailed voter before the day of the election.
States like Pennsylvania have forbidden this and started processing it on election day, making it possible for the results of states like Florida to be faster, which will create a huge setback for the democratic party. As the laws proposed will not be approved.
The Republicans are very confident about winning the majority in the house as they only need five seats to get the majority over the democrats, which shouldn’t be hard enough.
But on the other hand, the Senate isn’t a done deal, and the democrats have the hope of holding the majority there. The republics only need one vote in the Senate to overturn the majority, but it is considered hard to overturn that vote.
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