Republicans are substantial favorites to take over the U.S. House of Representatives following this Novembers midterm elections, but the U.S. Senate is much more competitive, according to FiveThirtyEights 2022 midterm election forecast, which launched today. Democrats are also favored to hang on to the governorships in a trio of swing states in the Rust Belt Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan although they are significant underdogs to win high-profile gubernatorial races in Georgia and Texas against Republican incumbents.
The split diagnosis reflects the difference between macro- and micro-level conditions. The national environment is quite poor for Democrats. Of course, this is typical for the presidents party, which has lost seats in the House in all but two of the past 21 midterm elections. But Democrats are also saddled with an unpopular President Biden and a series of challenges for the country, including inflation levels that havent been seen in decades, the lingering effects of the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and fraying trust in civic institutions caused, in part, by Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Democrats, as a predominantly urban party, also face a longstanding problem in the Senate, where every state has equal representation regardless of its population, resulting in a substantial built-in bias toward white, rural states. And although Democrats are very slightly better off following the redistricting process in the House than they were under the 2020 maps, there are still more Republican-leaning seats than Democratic-leaning ones.
True, the political environment is dynamic. The Supreme Courts decision last week to overturn Roe v. Wade is too recent to be fully reflected in polls, but there are reasons to think it will help Democrats. Roe, which granted the constitutional right to abortion, was a popular precedent, and Democratic voters are more likely than Republican ones to say the decision will encourage them to vote at the midterms.
Moreover, in striking down Roe and other popular laws like restrictions against the concealed carry of firearms, the Supreme Court has in some ways undermined one of the traditional reasons that the presidents party tends to lose seats at the midterms. Typically, voters like some degree of balance: They do not want one party to have unfettered control of all levers of government. But the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, is a reminder of how much power Republicans have even if they dont control the White House.
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 can also serve as a reminder to voters about what might happen if the Electoral College certification process takes place in 2024 amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress. Democrats have had trouble getting the public to treat threats to democracy as a high priority, but polls do show that the public is sympathetic to the Democrats case, especially after the recent congressional hearings on the events of Jan. 6.
So, this is not a typical, low-stakes midterm election. On the contrary, there are strong forces tugging at each side of the rope, some of which are potentially of existential importance.
But Democrats majorities in both chambers of Congress are narrow, the historical precedent toward the presidents party losing seats is strong, and polls so far such as the generic congressional ballot, which asks voters which party they would support in an election suggest that voters slightly prefer Republican control of Congress.
Or at least thats the story in the House, where there are dozens of competitive races and candidates are relatively anonymous. There, big-picture factors tend to prevail. An unusually weak Republican candidate in one district might be counteracted by a strong one in another, for example.
In the Senate and gubernatorial races, by contrast, individual factors can matter more. And the GOP has nominated or is poised to nominate candidates who might significantly underperform a generic Republican based on some combination of inexperience, personal scandals or having articulated unpopular conservative positions. This is not a new problem for Republicans: underqualified or fringy candidates have cost them seats in the Senate in other recent cycles.
So lets briefly run through the models forecast for House, Senate and gubernatorial races. Then Ill describe some changes to the model since 2020 which are modest this year but reflect how congressional races are changing in an increasingly polarized political environment.
Republicans have an 87 percent chance of taking over the House, according to the Deluxe version of our model. Thats far from certain, but Democrats are fighting the odds: Their 13 percent chances are equivalent to tossing a coin and having it come up tails three times in a row.
Thats not to say House control will be a matter of luck, exactly. A change in the political environment could have ripple effects. For instance, sometimes one party wins nearly all the toss-up races, as Republicans did in 2020. However, even if Democrats were to win all 13 races that our model currently designates as toss-ups (meaning that no party has more than a 60 percent chance of winning), plus hold on to all the seats in which theyre favored, they would still wind up with only 208 seats, 10 short of the number they need for a majority.
Instead, Democrats will also have to win some seats where Republican candidates are currently favored, and that requires the national political environment in November to be more favorable for Democrats than our model is currently expecting.
On the one hand, the task isnt that daunting for Democrats. Our model calculates that Democrats would be favored to keep the House if they win the House popular vote or lose it by less than 0.7 percentage points something that Democrats did in both 2018 and 2020.
Moreover, Democrats are down by only about 2 points in our current average of generic-ballot polls. Given the inherent error in polling, and how much time there is between now and November, it isnt hard to turn a 2-point deficit in the polls into a 1-point win.
However, in important ways, that 2-point deficit understates the degree of trouble that Democrats are in. One reason is because many of those polls are conducted among registered voters rather than likely voters, and the electorate that turns out in November is likely to be more Republican than the broader universe of all registered voters. Historically, the patterns in midterm elections are that: 1) Republicans turn out more than Democrats, and 2) voters for whichever party doesnt control the presidency are more enthusiastic and turn out more. In 2018, those factors canceled one another out. Democrats, not controlling the presidency, were the more enthusiastic party, helping to neutralize the Republicans historical turnout advantage. This year, though, they both work in the favor of Republicans.
Thus, the model adjusts those registered-voter polls based on its estimate of what likely-voter polls would show, and when it does that, the Republicans generic-ballot lead is really more like 4 points than 2 points. I should note that this adjustment is not rigid in the model. Although the model uses historical turnout patterns as its baseline assumption, it will override that based on polls. In other words, if polls come out showing Democrats holding their own among likely voters such as because of increased Democratic enthusiasm in the wake of Roe being overturned the model will adjust to reflect that. Put another way, a very strong turnout would give Democrats a fighting chance of keeping the House.
But also, the generic ballot isnt the only input that the model considers, and some of the other factors look worse for Democrats than the generic ballot does. Based on the historical tendency for the presidents party to lose seats in the midterms and Bidens poor approval rating, for instance, the situation is more likely to get worse for Democrats than better. The model also evaluates factors such as polling and fundraising data in individual races.
Overall, the Deluxe forecast expects Democrats to eventually lose the popular vote for the House by closer to 6 points, about the margin that they lost it by in 2014. And it expects Republicans to wind up with 237 seats in an average outcome, a gain of 24 seats from the 213 they had at the start of the current Congress.
As I mentioned, this analysis is based on the Deluxe version of our model, which accounts for polling, fundamentals or factors such as fundraising and incumbency and expert race ratings such as those put out by the Cook Political Report. The Classic version of our model, which leaves out the expert ratings sacrificing the additional accuracy they add but sticking to purely quantitative factors tells a similar story, with Democrats also having a 12 percent chance of keeping the House. The Lite version of our model, meanwhile, which tries to forecast as much as it can based on polls alone, does paint a more optimistic picture for Democrats, giving them a 22 percent chance of keeping the House. But that version leaves out a lot of useful information, especially given that there isnt much polling in a number of competitive House races.
Democratic hopes of keeping the Senate are much more viable, however. Part of this, as I mentioned, is because they appear to have stronger candidates in a handful of key races. Pennsylvania, for instance which is an open seat after the retirement of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is ordinarily the sort of seat that youd expect Republicans to win since Pennsylvania is a purple state in a Republican year. However, the Democratic candidate, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, is ahead of Republican Mehmet Oz, the doctor and TV personality, in every poll conducted so far. The model, though, is trained to be a bit skeptical given the fundamentals of the race, so it hedges against those polls and, at this point, has determined that Pennsylvania is best thought of as a toss-up. Still, that means Democrats have roughly a 50-50 chance of gaining a GOP-held Senate seat, offsetting potential losses elsewhere.
Indeed, our forecast sees the overall Senate landscape to be about as competitive as it gets. The Deluxe forecast literally has Senate control as a 50-50 tossup. The Classic and Lite forecasts show Democrats as very slight favorites to keep the Senate, meanwhile, with a 59 and a 62 percent chance, respectively.
Part of this is because Senate terms last for six years, and so most of these seats were last contested in 2016, a mediocre year for Democrats in which they lost the popular vote for the House and also lost Senate races in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. Of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs in November, 21 are currently held by Republicans. True, most of these are not competitive, but in addition to their chances to gain a GOP-held seat in Pennsylvania, Democrats also have credible chances in Wisconsin and North Carolina (and outside chances in Ohio and Florida, although those are a stretch given how GOP-leaning both states have become).
Republicans dont have any surefire pickups, meanwhile. Our model regards their best chances as being in Georgia, but that race is rated as a toss-up. And the races in Arizona and New Hampshire merely lean toward the Democratic incumbent, meaning they are still highly plausible GOP pickup opportunities.
Still, the picture isnt as bad as you might expect for Democrats. If the political environment really deteriorates for them, theyll be in trouble, lose most of the competitive races and even blue states like Colorado could come into play. But if things are merely pretty bad for Democrats instead of catastrophic, the outcome of the Senate will remain uncertain enough that stronger candidates could make the difference for them.
Its hard to talk about gubernatorial races on a systematic basis since theres no particular prize for winning a majority of governorships. But, for the record, our model does run these calculations, and the Deluxe version estimates that theres an 83 percent chance that Republicans end up with a majority of governorships following this Novembers elections, compared with a 7 percent chance for Democrats. (There is an 10 percent chance that neither party has a majority.) However, a lot of these governorships are in smaller, lower-population states, and the model thinks theres a 73 percent chance that the majority of the U.S. population will reside in states run by Democratic governors.
Overall, though, gubernatorial contests take the theme from the Senate a step further: Individual candidates can matter a lot. Indeed, partisanship matters less in gubernatorial races than in races for Congress, even if it matters more than it once did. Consider, for instance, that there are currently Democratic governors in Kansas and Louisiana and Republican ones in Massachusetts and Maryland, although several of those seats could flip parties this year.
However, incumbency is a powerful force in gubernatorial races. For instance, even though Michigan is a slightly red-leaning state, its incumbent Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is a clear favorite against a Republican field marred by fraudulent attempts to access the ballot and the arrest of a leading candidate for his participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Meanwhile, Wisconsins Tony Evers, also a Democratic incumbent, is a favorite against a Republican field where the most likely nominee is Rebecca Kleefisch, the former lieutenant governor. This is the sort of race where abortion could matter: Technically, Wisconsins 173-year-old abortion ban which outlaws all abortions, except in cases to save the life of the mother is now in effect following the Dobbs decision, although the Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has said he wont enforce the ban. But Kleefisch has said she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
However, Republicans also have some strongly positioned incumbents. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is an 86 percent favorite to hold on against Democrat Stacey Abrams, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a 95 percent favorite against Democrat Beto ORourke. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a co-favorite with former President Donald Trump to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is also a 94 percent favorite to win a second term.
Perhaps the most important gubernatorial race is in Pennsylvania, an open-seat race as the Democratic incumbent governor, Tom Wolf, is term-limited. There, the Republican nominee, Doug Mastriano, was present outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection and worked to overturn Bidens win in Pennsylvania, potentially yielding a constitutional crisis if hes governor in Pennsylvania and the election outcome is close again there in 2024. But Mastriano is an underdog against Democrat Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania attorney general.
Overall, were happy with our congressional and gubernatorial forecasts, which last underwent a major revision before the 2018 elections. They performed very well in 2018 and fairly well in 2020 (despite a challenging year for the polls in 2020; it helped that our model also considers a number of other factors in addition to the polling). Therefore, the overall methodology is largely the same. However, after assessing the performance of the models, we did make a few changes around the margins:
Finally, a couple pieces of housekeeping. A number of states havent held their primaries yet, so in those cases, we guess at the most likely nominees based on polling, fundraising and other factors. These presumed nominees are designated with an asterisk in the interactive. If you see anything egregiously wrong such as a candidate listed as a presumptive nominee when theyve dropped out of the race please drop us a line.
Were also still thinking about how best to handle Alaska, which has a new system in place this year in which the top-four finishers in the primary advance to the general election regardless of political party, and then the general election outcome is determined by ranked-choice voting (or, as some call it, an instant runoff) if no candidate receives a majority. This is not entirely dissimilar to the way elections are conducted in Louisiana, in which all candidates from all parties appear on the ballot in a blanket nonpartisan primary in November, and then theres a runoff later between the top-two candidates if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote. In fact, were currently taking a bit of a shortcut by using the Louisiana code for Alaska, essentially treating the instant runoff as though its an actual runoff where voters go to the polls again.
We may revisit this assumption later, but it does avoid one potential pitfall. In Alaskas House, Senate and gubernatorial races, its fairly likely that well end up with one Democratic candidate but two or three Republican candidates following the Aug. 16 primaries. If the Republican vote is divided two or three ways, it may well be that the Democrat initially receives the plurality of the vote. However, this lead is unlikely to survive the instant-runoff process assuming voters for one Republican rank the other Republicans ahead of any Democrat. The process we use for Louisiana assumes that votes mostly tend to stay within the same party in the event of a runoff, and this same assumption is in place in Alaska. Thus, we have Republicans as fairly heavy favorites in the Alaska races, although the new system introduces some uncertainty.
The forecast itself will update continuously whenever new polls or other information are added to our database. Well also publish a written update to the forecast once per week or so, usually on Fridays, to review new data and other changes in the landscape, before upping the frequency as the election draws closer. We hope youll regularly visit FiveThirtyEight as part of your midterms rotation.
Read more here:
Why Republicans Are Favored To Win The House, But Not The Senate - FiveThirtyEight
- Republican-controlled Idaho House passes Texas-style immigration bill Idaho Capital Sun - Idaho Capital Sun - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Georgia judge rules that Republican Brian K. Pritchard voted illegally - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Trump pays $175m New York fraud bond as Truth Social stock takes huge hit- live - The Independent - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Judges raise alarm over Trumps attacks - The Washington Post - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Why Trump's alarmist message on immigration may be resonating beyond his base - PBS NewsHour - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- House Republican condemns Democrats sexualization of everything after Easter controversy - Washington Examiner - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Emery County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner and Convention Hosts Large Crowd and a Full Slate of Candidates - ETV News - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Who are the candidates in the West Virginia Republican Governors Forum? - WBOY.com - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- The Republican Justices Are Slow-Walking a Key South Carolina Redistricting Case - Balls & Strikes - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- "Never forget": Trump unloads on Republican "cowards and weaklings" in Easter Sunday meltdown - Salon - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Analysis | The revamped Republican Party turns Trump's lies into a loyalty test - The Washington Post - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Trump and his MAGA movement stormed the Republican establishment. Now they have become it. - The Fulcrum - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Senator Helming and Senate Republican Conference Unveil Legislative Package to Expand Availability and Access to ... - The New York State Senate - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- States that lean Republican report more COVID vaccine-related adverse events, study finds - University of Minnesota Twin Cities - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- House Republican condemns Democrats' 'sexualization of everything' after Easter controversy - Colorado Springs Gazette - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- Infuriated House members plot early exits due to Republican dysfunction - Axios - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- State reviewing cop-involved shootings - Waterbury Republican American - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- RNC plan for 2020 denialist to head election integrity unit raises alarms - The Guardian US - April 2nd, 2024 [April 2nd, 2024]
- McConnell casts doubt on border and Ukraine aid deal as GOP fury threatens both - NBC News - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Biden Vetoes Republican Measure to Block Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - The New York Times - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Wilson Co. Republican Party of TN shares controversial meme referencing hangings - News Channel 5 Nashville - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- When is the Nevada primary, caucus? What to know about dual contests. - USA TODAY - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Electability is all Democrats discussed in 2020. In 2024, Republicans don't care - NPR - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Trump racks up endorsements from Republicans in Congress as any resistance that once existed fades - The Associated Press - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- 'Betrayal': Arizona GOP chair resigns after recording of 'offer' to Kari Lake - USA TODAY - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- It's Fair to Ask: Is the Republican Race Over? - The New York Times - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- 'No Time to Go Wobbly': Why Britain Is Lobbying U.S. Republicans on Ukraine - The New York Times - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- The 2024 Republican Primary Was Over Before It Began - The New Yorker - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- More GOP holdouts backing Trump as leaders seek unity - Roll Call - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- House Republicans accuse Penn of 'failure to address antisemitism on its campus' - ABC News - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Four reasons why Nikki Haley may be staying in the race for the Republican nomination | Brookings - Brookings Institution - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- The United Auto Workers union endorsed Biden today - NPR - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- After Early Primary Victories, Republicans in Congress Fall in Line Behind Trump - The New York Times - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Kari Lake is running for U.S. Senate from Arizona. The AZGOP tried to stop her. - NPR - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- New Hampshire exit polls: Republicans were just half of voters in their own primary - Reuters.com - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- NH primary plays outsized role in determining future of the Republican Party - NPR - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Trump wins 2024 New Hampshire primary - The Associated Press - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- House Republicans now have one of the smallest majorities in history - NBC News - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Time to back Trump: Republican donors accept the inevitable - The Guardian US - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Trump wins New Hampshire primary, further solidifying path to 2024 presidential election - Axios - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Does Nikki Haley have a chance in South Carolina's primary? Here's what some voters are saying - ABC News - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Trump and Biden shift focus to general election rematch as Haley fights on - Reuters.com - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Biden: Its clear Trump will be Republican nominee - The Hill - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Election 2024: Haley Heads Home to Keep Up Fight as Trump and Biden Look to Rematch - The New York Times - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- AP Votecast: How and why New Hampshire voted in 2024 primary - The Associated Press - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Why Trump's critics see his New Hampshire win as a positive sign for 2024 - POLITICO - POLITICO - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Republicans zero in on a new border the one with Canada - NBC News - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Arizona Republican Party boss tried to keep Kari Lake out of Senate race by dangling job - The Arizona Republic - January 25th, 2024 [January 25th, 2024]
- Iowa Republican caucus date set for Jan. 15, 2024 - POLITICO - POLITICO - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Republicans sound alarm over DeSantiss sagging campaign - The Hill - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Opinion | Can the Republican Party Reverse Course? - The New York Times - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Reagans Republican Party Wouldnt Think Twice About Aid to Ukraine - Yahoo News - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Trump Wont Campaign at a July 4 Parade, but Other Republican ... - The New York Times - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Nearly a quarter of Republicans say classified docs charges make them more likely to support Trump: poll - The Hill - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Which Republicans Have Pledged to Support Their Nominee - The New York Times - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Calling robust Republican representation in Groton - theday.com - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- John Roberts Is the Last Republican - New York Magazine - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- House Republicans' Impeachment Fever Is a Gift to Democrats - The New Republic - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- 'Boebert wokest Republican yet' The Durango Herald - The Durango Herald - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Ole Town Republican Party in a hole - theday.com - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Republicans Want to Mandate a Single Style of Architecture in ... - POLITICO - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Republicans Are Divided on Impeaching Biden as Panel Begins ... - The New York Times - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Impactful Quartet of Center-Right grassroots groups aim to advance ... - City-sentinel - July 9th, 2023 [July 9th, 2023]
- Ron DeSantis: 10 things to know about the Republican White House hopeful - The Guardian US - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Opinion | The Four Freedoms, According to Republicans - The New York Times - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Greene says no one is concerned about debt default in Republican conference - The Hill - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Republican concerns may halt permanent extension of expanded ... - New Hampshire Bulletin - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- The Ever-Growing 2024 Republican Primary Field : The NPR ... - NPR - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Why the Republican Job Requirements Push Won't Actually Get ... - TIME - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Key Republican urges McCarthy, GOP to hold the line in debt ceiling talks - The Hill - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- South Carolina GOP Passes 6-Week Abortion Ban, Sends Bill to ... - Democracy Now! - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Opinion | Vivek Ramaswamys Long Shot Run at the Republican ... - The New York Times - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Ohio Republican attack on higher ed will devastate our widely ... - Ohio Capital Journal - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Childless Adults Will Bear the Brunt of Republican Cuts to the Safety ... - The New Republic - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Opinion | George Santos Must Be Held Accountable by Republican ... - The New York Times - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Republican James Follweiler to be on ballot in Bethlehem City ... - 69News WFMZ-TV - May 24th, 2023 [May 24th, 2023]
- Why Republicans school board takeovers are faltering with voters - Vox.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Arizona Republicans have gotten most of what they wanted this year - The Arizona Republic - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Trump-backed Daniel Cameron wins GOP primary for Kentucky governor, will face incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear - Fox News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- DEI divide: Republicans and Democrats split on workplace diversity - USA TODAY - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]