What Makes The Midterms In The U.S. So Important

It is another crucial period in United States politics since this November means the midterms. So why are the midterms so important, and how could a new balance of power affect the U.S.?

The midterm elections, which happen every two years, are unlike presidential elections, which take place every four years. The midterms only contest Congress seats, crucial to the president since the balance of power there could impact the efficiency of their term in office. But before we talk about the effects midterm results could have, let’s first talk about how the midterms work.

If you didn’t know, the United States of America’s government consists of three branches: The legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The president represents the executive, though they also work with the Cabinet. The judicial branch consists of the courts, spread throughout the fifty states, with district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court. But when discussing the midterm elections, we’re only discussing the election of the legislative branch, or Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate. But not all Senate seats are up for election.

The term for a Senator is six years, so within those six years, one could choose whether to seek reelection. In the 2022 Midterms, only about one-third of seats are up for reelection. However, a House member’s term is two years, so that seat is up for reelection every election and midterm. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won the presidential election, successfully securing a four-year term in the White House. At the same time, his party, the Democratic party, won a majority in the House of Representatives and tied 50-50 in the Senate. But with the Vice President as a tie-breaker, Democrats controlled both the executive and legislative branches.

However, a Senate rule implies a simple majority isn’t enough to pass bills. And that rule is the filibuster. You see, before the Senate could vote on legislation, they have to decide whether to end the debate. That other vote requires a two-thirds majority to continue the procedure. If that doesn’t pass, then the legislation is literally “blocked” even before it’s officially voted on.

The filibuster only applies in the Senate. The House of Representatives used to have such a rule, though it got canceled. But the Senate filibuster originally happened accidentally. In the old Senate, if you wanted to stall the vote on a bill, it required a Senator to keep talking. And some senators could talk a lot! Strom Thurmond’s filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act continued for a whopping 24 hours and 18 minutes without stopping talking or leaving the Senate floor! That set a record for the longest Senate filibuster. It’s extraordinary what Senators opt to prevent passing a bill, even without a majority.

Indeed, talking for that long time is impressive, but it’s also annoying, so they proposed a vote to end the debate, requiring a two-thirds majority. Finally, people thought they would skip the talking part and become today’s filibuster.

Nowadays, no one party, either Republican or Democratic, controls two-thirds of the Senate. So if the controlling party wants to pass a bill in the Senate, they need to convince a few members of the other side to vote for your legislation as well. Some think the filibuster has broken American politics since virtually nothing gets done efficiently. These people advocate getting rid of the filibuster. Since the majority party is elected and represents the people, it isn’t fair the minority can block legislation.

But currently, the filibuster exists, and without cooperation in the Senate, there is almost no chance of passing legislation. The stance of midterm results, Republicans hold an advantage in the House. There are still votes to be counted, which likely would take a few days. However, Democrats have already gotten the 50 votes needed to control the Senate, though there is still a race not called. The Georgia Senate race between Republican Hershel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock will head to a runoff in early December.

So what effect would these results have on politics in the U.S.? In the Senate, we can see that the Democrats could still get blocked by a Republican filibuster. On the other hand, the House is projected by many to fall into Republican control. In the House, with no filibuster, Republicans could propose their legislation. However, it can’t pass the Senate. So taking all that into account, it looks like a stalemate still exists in the U.S. government.

Even though a stalemate could exist, taking control of Congress is still quite important to both parties. So what would the next two years be like for the U.S. government? I guess we could only wait and see. However, in the meantime, remember to subscribe so that you wouldn’t miss out on future updates. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve learned new information.