The 2022 midterm elections have been marked by a clash of issues — between inflation and the threat to abortion rights.
Historically, since World War II, the party out of power has picked up about two dozen House seats in a president’s first midterm. In 2010, with President Obama in the White House, Democrats lost 63 seats. In 2018, Republicans lost 40 when Trump was president.
This year — with prices on the rise and President Biden’s approval rating suffering — was shaping up to be a red wave. That is, until late June when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion in the country.
That fired up a once-dormant Democratic base. The party benefited from increased fundraising and enthusiasm. But with inflation continuing to top voters’ concerns, Republicans are still favored to pick up enough seats to take control of the House — they only need a net gain of five. The Senate is more of a tossup, with elections in about a dozen states likely to decide control of the upper chamber.
More money is being spent in these elections than in any previous midterm. More than $9 billion is expected to be spent on the midterm races — with more than $1 billion coming from outside groups, according to the campaign-finance tracking website OpenSecrets.
With that amount of money being poured in across the country, and both parties’ bases enthusiastic about voting, all signs are pointing to record-high midterm turnout.
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