What Are Midterm Elections? What's on the Ballot in 2026 and Why They Exist

By Dr. AtlasPublished Sep 17, 2026

Midterm elections are the general elections held in November of the even-numbered year that falls halfway through a president's four-year term. USA.gov, a federal government website, puts it in one line: “Midterm congressional elections take place halfway between presidential elections.” ^[5] The next one is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. ^[10]

The presidency is not on a midterm ballot. Every seat in the U.S. House and about one-third of the U.S. Senate are ^[5], along with the state and local offices and ballot measures each state schedules for that year. ^[6]

What is a midterm election?

The word describes timing, not a special kind of election. The Constitution gives the president a “Term of four Years” ^[3] and has House members “chosen every second Year” ^[1], so every second House election lands in the middle of a presidential term. The 2026 elections come two years after the 2024 presidential election ^[18] and two years before the next one.

Federal law fixes the day as “the Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year.” ^[4] Most other rules are set by the states, subject to Congress, under the Constitution's “Times, Places and Manner” clause. ^[1]

Are midterm elections every 2 years?

No. Congressional elections are every two years; midterms are every four. The rule, in USA.gov's words: “Congressional elections happen every two years. At that time, one-third of the Senate and every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election.” ^[5] Half of those elections share a ballot with a presidential contest, as in 2020 and 2024. ^[18][19] The other half are the midterms: 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030. ^[5][16]

What's on the ballot in the 2026 midterm elections?

Are all House seats up for election in 2026?

Yes. Article I, Section 2 says the House “shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States.” ^[1] House.gov notes that the number of voting representatives “is fixed by law at no more than 435” ^[12], and USA.gov confirms: “All 435 House seats are up for election every midterm and presidential election year.” ^[5] The Ledger's guide to the 2026 House elections covers the districts, among them Iowa's 3rd, Ohio's 9th and Alaska's at-large seat.

The House also seats five delegates (from the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands) and a resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, none of whom may vote when the full House meets. ^[11][12] The election-day statute covers “Representatives and Delegates” alike ^[4]; the resident commissioner is the exception to the two-year rhythm, with a term set by law at “four years.” ^[13]

How many Senate seats are up in 2026?

Thirty-five. Senators serve six-year terms ^[2], and Article I, Section 3 divides the Senate into three classes “so that one third may be chosen every second Year.” ^[1] The class up in 2026 is Class II. The Senate lists 33 senators in it, with terms that “run from the beginning of the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021, to the end of the 119th Congress on January 3, 2027.” ^[7]

Florida and Ohio bring the total to 35. The Federal Election Commission's 2026 calendar (data as of May 18, 2026) marks a Senate election in 35 states: the 33 Class II states plus those two. ^[7][10] Both are Class III seats, a class elected in November 2022 for terms running to January 3, 2029. ^[8] When a seat falls vacant, the 17th Amendment requires an election to fill it and lets a state legislature authorize the governor to appoint a temporary senator only “until the people fill the vacancies by election.” ^[2] Ohio's seat, for example, opened when JD Vance resigned effective January 10, 2025. ^[9]

The full list is in the 2026 Senate map. Ledger race pages include Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio, all states on the FEC's Senate list. ^[10]

Governors, legislatures and local offices

As of September 17, 2026, the National Governors Association's elections page counts 39 gubernatorial elections in 2026 (36 states and three territories), with 18 incumbents running and 21 who are term-limited or not seeking another term. ^[21] Arizona and Oklahoma are both on that list ^[21]; see who is running for governor in 2026.

Further down the ballot, USA.gov's lists of state and local offices include “Representatives in the state legislature,” county executives, city mayors and state or local judges, plus ballot measures. ^[6] What elections are coming up in November 2026 walks through the major races.

What is the purpose of midterm elections?

Nobody designed “the midterms” as a separate event. They are what happens when three federal offices run on three different clocks: two years for the House ^[1], six years for the Senate with a third of the seats turning over every two years ^[1], and four years for the president. ^[3] The result is that voters choose a new House, and part of the Senate, halfway through every presidency. ^[5]

The short House term was deliberate. Federalist No. 52, published in the New York Packet on February 8, 1788, argued that the House “should have an immediate dependence on, and an intimate sympathy with, the people.” ^[14] Its next sentence names the means:

“Frequent elections are unquestionably the only policy by which this dependence and sympathy can be effectually secured.”

Federalist No. 52 (Alexander Hamilton or James Madison), February 8, 1788 ^[14]

The Senate was built to change more slowly. The Library of Congress's Constitution Annotated explains: “The Framers provided for change in the Senate to occur gradually while ensuring that the Senate remained responsive to popular interests by providing for one-third of Senate seats to be filled every two years.” ^[15] Until the 17th Amendment (1913), state legislatures chose senators ^[1][7]; since then senators have been “elected by the people thereof” ^[2], which puts both chambers directly before voters in every midterm.

What is the purpose of midterm elections in 2026?

The 2026 midterms decide the makeup of the 120th Congress, which takes over when the 119th ends on January 3, 2027. ^[7][8] USA.gov lists two things congressional elections determine: “Who represents your state in the federal government” and “Which political party will hold a majority in each chamber for the next two years.” ^[5]

The starting line: Republicans won 220 House seats and Democrats 215 in the initial results of the 2024 election ^[11], and a majority of 435 is 218. The Senate stood at 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and 2 independents immediately after that election. ^[9] Both tallies are opening snapshots; neither tracks later vacancies or special elections. ^[9][11]

A midterm does not change the length of a president's term, which the Constitution fixes at four years. ^[3] What a new House or Senate majority means for a sitting president is the subject of do midterm elections affect the president.

How the last five midterms changed the House

In all five, the president's party came out with fewer House seats, and in four of the five (every year but 2014) the majority changed hands. ^[11][22] The Senate has been less uniform: the same data set shows the president's party gaining Senate seats in 2018 and 2022. ^[22]

Do fewer people vote in midterm elections?

Yes, by the Census Bureau's measure. In the 2022 midterm, 52.2% of the citizen voting-age population voted, which the bureau called “the second highest for a nonpresidential election year since 2000.” ^[16] Turnout was 53.4% in 2018, 41.9% in 2014 and 45.5% in 2010. ^[17] In presidential years the bureau reported that 66.8% of citizens 18 and older voted in 2020 ^[19] and that 65.3% of the citizen voting-age population, about 154 million people, voted in 2024. ^[18]

When are the midterm elections in 2026?

Tuesday, November 3, 2026. ^[10] Registration deadlines, early voting and mail-ballot rules are set state by state ^[1]; see when Election Day 2026 is, how to register and how to vote in the 2026 midterms. House winners sit in the Congress “commencing on the 3d day of January next thereafter”: January 3, 2027, the day current Class II Senate terms end. ^[4][7]

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