The Democrats gained both the House and Senate back in 2006. In the past five midterm elections, the Republicans gained control of the Senate in 2014, the House in 2010, and the Senate in 2002.
And in three other cases, the Republicans picked up the House or the Senate from the Democrats. Those two elections in 19 saw voters change the majority party in the Senate and House at the same time. In nine midterms, the balance of power in Congress has remained the same in four elections. In three cases, different parties gained control of just the House or the Senate in the same election, and in one instance (2012), the Congress remained split after an election.Įxamining just the midterm elections after 1980, the picture is equally mixed. In two elections, 19, both the House and the Senate changed control. (After the 2000 election, the Democrats gained a deciding vote in the Senate after a Republican became an Independent in May 2001.) Since 1988, in 15 Congressional elections, the Republicans have retained a majority in the entire Congress five times on Election Day and the Democrats four times. The Republicans grabbed back the Senate for the first six years of the Reagan administration, while the Democrats retained the House. However, starting in 1955, the Democrats had majorities in both houses of Congress after every congressional election until the 1980 Reagan Revolution. Between 19, both parties swapped control of Congress. Since 1946, when Republicans ended a 14-year period of total Democratic control in Congress, midterm elections have been mostly contested starting in the Reagan era. So how have these elections panned out in the modern era? Today, Americans are heading to the polls for midterm elections, where the entire House and 35 Senate seats will be up for grabs.