Congressional Elections

Congressional elections occur every two years. Voters choose all members of the House of Representatives and ⅓ of senators. They differ from presidential elections in that they don’t follow the electoral college. The candidate who receives the majority of the votes wins the election.

U.S. House of Representatives

Representatives serve two-year terms. Elections for the House of Representatives occur every midterm and presidential election year. Reelection for representatives is much more frequent than other federal positions so the House can be considered the closest to its constituents. That is why the House of Representatives is considered the most democratic deliberative body. Another interesting thing to note is that the House can be extremely partisan at times. House members represent their specific congressional district making it possible for even house members of the same party and state to disagree on issues.

U.S. Senate

Senators serve six-year terms and are elected by a statewide vote. Voters choose one-third of senators every midterm and presidential election year. Since elections are far apart from one another, senators are more distant from their constituents than House representatives.

The current system involves the direct election of senators which is different from the system originally established in the constitution. Article I, section 3 of the constitution states “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.” State legislatures would choose senators to help cement ties between the national and state governments. The framers believed that senators would be able to act independently without public pressure if they were chosen this way.

There was little need to change the process until the 1850s when debates over slavery grew increasingly intense. The conflicts between Democrats and Republicans in state legislatures prevented the selection of senate candidates. The charged climate contributed to a greater incentive to change the system. Problems after the Civil War in the senatorial elections held by state legislatures also helped shift America toward a direct election system. In the early 1900s, states adopted direct election systems one by one. Oregon and Nebraska were two of the first states to adopt such systems. Eventually, the Seventeenth Amendment in 1912 officially gave people the right to directly vote for their senators rather than the state legislatures.

Conclusion

Congressional elections typically don’t garner the same amount of press and attention as presidential elections. Voter turnout in America is already relatively low, but it is even lower for midterm elections. However, congressional elections are just as important as presidential elections since they determine who represents your state in Congress and which political party holds a majority in Congress. The low voter turnout actually makes your vote more important because mathematically speaking, your individual vote counts for much more in a congressional election than during a presidential election when there are more people voting. Additionally, there is no electoral college so one person does equal one vote. The lawmaking power of Congress can not be ignored, making it even more important for people to participate in congressional elections

References

Lumen. (n.d.) Congressional elections. Lumen.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-monroecc-americangovernment/chapter/congressional-elections/

United States Senate. (n.d.) Direct election of senators. United States Senate.

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm

USA gov. (n.d.) Congressional, state, and local elections. USA gov. https://www.usa.gov/midterm-state-and-local-elections#item-213861