US Midterm election 2022: Why it is very important | Your Guide
India Today
President Joe Biden's Democratic Party is up for another test as the United States is gearing up for the midterm elections on November 8. But, what are midterms and why are they important? Let's dive in.
Election season is back in the United States, and President Joe Biden-led Democrats are up for a big test as America gears up for the midterm polls on November 8, 2022. Their biggest contender remains Donald Trump, who is still the face of the Republican party amid the January 6th committee hearings centered around his attempts to overthrow the government.
Unlike India, where elections are ongoing in one state or the other every year, the American elections to the Senate are divided into two phases, the midterms, and the Presidential elections.
As Biden faces Trump's Republican Party in a highly divided American society, we try to break down the polls that could decide the fate of the oldest democracy in the world.
US midterms, like the name suggests, are held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term in office.
Like the Indian Parliament, America's Congress has 535 members who are responsible for making the law of the land. Congress is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 100 members in the senate elected for a six-year term and every two years a third of the Senate is up for re-election. Similarly, the House of Representatives has 435 members for a two-year term after which every seat is up for re-election.
This makes it mandatory to hold a midterm election.
The control of the House of Representatives is at stake. This time, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and a third of Senate seats (35) are going to the polls. A political party needs 51 seats to have control in the Senate, while 218 are required to achieve a majority in the House.
