What a midterm election is

A midterm is the general election in the middle of a presidential term. Election Day for the 2026 U.S. midterms is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The date is set by federal law for the election of members of Congress: the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. States use that day for many of their own offices. They do not have to. A state can hold a gubernatorial election in an odd year. Most do not. The state hub says what that state actually placed on the November 3 ballot.

Voters are choosing a new U.S. House. All 435 voting seats have two-year terms, so all of them are up. They are choosing about one-third of the U.S. Senate, Class 2, plus any unexpired Senate terms a state scheduled for the same day. They are not choosing a president or vice president. There is no national popular vote for “the midterms.” There are thousands of separate contests, each with its own rules and its own certificate.

State offices on the same ballot vary. Many states elect governors in midterm years. Some elect them in presidential years. A few elect almost no statewide executive in 2026 and still elect a legislature, judges, or a single row officer. Ballot measures, retention elections for judges, and local offices fill the rest of the card. Treating “the midterm” as one horse race — a single number for control of Washington — hides those choices. Control of the House and control of the Senate are themselves two different counts, explained in the majority pages.

The word “midterm” sometimes carries a theory about turnout: that the president’s party loses seats, or that fewer people vote than in a presidential year. Those are descriptions of some past elections, not a law. The Census Bureau measures reported turnout in a survey. States measure ballots in a canvass. Both can show a gap between presidential-year and midterm-year participation, and both can show exceptions. This site does not turn that history into a 2026 seat forecast.

What a reader can do with a midterm page is narrower and more useful. Find the offices on the state ballot. Read the candidate list the election office published. Read any poll this site has cited as one survey. Use the state’s calendar for registration and mail ballots. Ignore any sentence, including a sentence on social media, that announces a winner before the canvass. This site will not be the one that announces it.