2022 Midterm Election

What is the Senate's importance?

​The U.S. Senate is under the legislative branch that regulates federal laws. Laws by the House of Representatives are passed to the Senate to potentially be signed, debated, and voted on. An individual who is voting may prefer a candidate over the other based on the candidate's political party affiliation.  The U.S Senate along with the U.S. House of Representatives makes up the U.S. congress. The Senate consists of 100 Senators. For each state, there are two senators. The most recent midterm election where many senators were re-elected/ elected within the U.S. occurred on Tuesday November, 8th 2022. The U.S. Senate  will remain under control by the Democratic Party with 50 democratic and 49 republican seats. Raphael Warnock (Democrat) and Herschel Walker (Republican) were in a tight run-off for the Senate seat for the state of Georgia but democrats still won the senate with Kamala Harris (Vice President of U.S) breaking the tie that gave the democratic party the lead. 

NC Senate race:

On November 9th, 2022, the Trump endorsed candidate and gun-store owner, Ted Budd, beat out his opponent Cheri Beasley with 50.5% of the vote in the North Carolina senate race. The race was close. Beasley rallied democrats from across the state with promises to expand affordable health care, increase funding for Title I schools, and create jobs by promoting infrastructure projects, while Budd gained much support from republicans through his anti-abortion stance, intended tax cuts, focus on agricultural economics, conservative constitutional values and anti-Biden statements. The race showed polarized stances, and highlighted stark differences between NC voters. 

Lara Trump was widely speculated as the republican candidate for this NC seat, but when she didn't run, Budd's campaign was quickly endorsed by Trump. Under a generous PAC, Budd received support from the Club for Growth, a group that aims to cut taxes and promote the economy. According to their website, the conservative organization reportedly spent $10 million on Ted Budd's primary and general election campaign. 

The election turnout came to nearly 3.8 million of the 7.4 million registered voters in North Carolina, continuing an upward trend of turnout in recent midterm elections. While this was a close election, and watched on the national level, this win for republicans wasn't enough to sway the senate towards a republican majority. 

The red wave:

Before election day, many politicians and news analysts were predicting a 'Red wave'. This wave forecasted large wins for the republicans in congress and other elections. Analysts cited high rates of inflation and President Biden's low approval ratings, as factors for anticipated republican wins. These wins did not happen. Although republicans won the house, they did not win the Senate as predicted.

"People don't love the economy, but they're not getting laid off, which allowed other issues like abortion, like immigration, like the 'Big Lie' on the right to instead dominate the closing weeks of the election," according to a polling and market research company, Ipsos. Many people across the country are worried about the economy, but the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade has brought many young people out to vote, who largely vote democrat. 

Trump endorsements:

Surprisingly for some, many Trump endorsed candidates had large losses. With 29 of his endorsees losing Governing, House, and Senate seats in competitive states. Many Republicans were reportedly dissuaded from voting for his endorsees as many of the candidates were election deniers, something that doesn't sit well with many republicans after the events of January 6th.

Voter turnout in young people:

Young women were also a large group to turn out nationally, which the Brooking's Research Institute attributed to, "the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade"... "The new exit polls show that 47% of female voters felt angry about that decision, and 83% of those women voted for a Democratic candidate." Young white people —ages 18-29— voted more for the democratic party than in the 2020 election. "As voters in this age group advance into older ages, and the overall US population becomes more diverse, it signals good news for Democrats," Brookings Research reported. Roe V. Wade,  Trump's endorsements, and  younger voter turnout were just a few factors that prevented the 'red wave'.

17th Amendment:

The 17th Amendment plays an important role for the U.S. Senate. This Amendment was ratified in 1913. Senators were originally elected by state legislatures and not voted on by the people. Senators are now elected by popular vote and have six year terms. 

Why is the House of Representatives important?

The House of Representatives includes equal representation that is written in the U.S. Constitution  Amendment XIV, section 2. The amount of people that live in a certain state may determine how many House seats that state has. The number of representatives for the U.S. House is 435. 435 seats proportionally represent the 50 states. Each state except for Nebraska who does not have a legislature has their own lower and upper house. NC has 120 seats for the NC House of Representatives. The job for the House involves voting on Bills and federal laws which are debated and reviewed. If the Electoral College(voters who represent the U.S. and their state) has a tie for the Presidential election, the House has the power to elect the President based on the candidates with the highest number of votes. 

NC 2022 Midterm House Elections:

Seven democrats and seven republicans were elected totalling NC’s representatives to 14. For the NC house, republicans won the majority with gaining 69 seats to democrats 51 seats equalling 120.

What is the GOP?

​The republican party is often referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party). Republicans control the House with electing 222 seats while democrats have 213 for the 2022 Midterms. 

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