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Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
Maybe a political nerd here could please ELI5 to those of us who aren't very familiar what is happening today. Obviously American politics are being shoved down our throats constantly every day. But I'm no expert on the various levels of US government and what the implications are.
If I understand correctly, Americans can vote during these midterms for representatives of the House and Senate? However from what I've read, it's more likely the Democrats could win the House but not the Senate? What exactly is the difference? And why is one more likely then the other and what does this mean going forward? Do these kind of elections occur every 2 years? Or every 4 years, but 2 years apart from the main elections?
If the Democrats win, how exactly does this give them more power when a Republican like Trump is still in power? What can they actually do?
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House seats are up every 2 years, so midterm and presidential elections decide the house of representatives regularly. It's one of the 2 legislative houses, the other being the senate which is likely going to the Republicans.
Senate seats are up every 6 years, and the two senate seats rotate their elections so that there is at least one consistent senator through every election. Senators tend to hold a lot of power, and the elections are rare, so these are probably the most important mid term races to watch.
Governor seats are up every 4 years (with some variations), and the rules vary from state to state on term limits etc. Governors tend to have a large influence on the district lines being drawn, along with other important state laws and policies that are not governed by the fed. State elections get less attention, but might be more important to the overall effect of government on people's day to day lives.