Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The 2022 midterms were eventful but they didn’t turn out as many predicted. In Ohio, there were 16 seats in the House of Representatives up for re-election and one seat in the Senate. Beyond the federal level, there were also a lot of state and local elections. The key races in Ohio were the elections for Governor and the Senate seat, but a huge House seat unexpectedly proved its importance after flipping mainly due to redistricting.
To begin, Mike Dewine was re-elected as Governor of Ohio and cruised into another term defeating Democratic challenger Nan Whaley by a whopping 25% lead with Dewine raking in 62% and Whaley raking in 37% with over a million more votes cast.
The Senate race to replace retiring Senator Rob Portman was heated, but in the end, Republican candidate JD Vance swept Democrat Tim Ryan winning 53% of the vote. This has been part of an ongoing trend as Ohio is beginning to sway more towards being a red state after Trump’s victory in the state in 2016.
A significant exception was Republican incumbent Steve Chabot losing his seat in the House after serving in District 1 of Ohio since 2011. Chabot lost to Democrat Greg Landsman, who has served on the Cincinnati City Council since 2018. Chabot lost by 5% with only 47.5% of the votes. The loss of Chabot’s seat comes as an upset to Republicans, as the loss of the seat was completely unexpected.
Despite JD Vance winning the Senate race, Democrats retained control of the Senate with tossup races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona going to Democrats. Republicans took big wins in Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin, maintaining those crucial Senate seats, but they weren’t enough to get a majority. The Georgia Senate race has resulted in a runoff which will take place on December 6th because either candidate reached 50% of the votes in the initial election. Republican Herschel Walker was less than a percentage behind Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock, but both remained under 50%. Regardless of the Georgia Senate results, Democrats still have won 50 Senate seats, which is enough for a majority since the Vice President is a Democrat. this upcoming Georgia election will only decide if Democrats will have a firmer majority in the Senate.
The House is not following the trend with Republicans on their way to taking control of the US House of Representatives already around 10 seats ahead in the race to 218 seats. With a Republican controlled House, Democrats won’t be able to pass as much legislation in the next 2 years as they have since 2020, when they had the majority in both Houses of Congress.
This midterm proved to be more of an upset as Republicans were expected to win a lot more seats, especially due to the incumbent president being a Democrat. Democrats may gain a Senate seat, although Republicans are set to take the House back by a few seats regardless. Midterms generally tell a lot about a President's approval. Although, President Biden's approval rating was low, Democrats managed to hold on a good amount by campaigning on abortion and social issues. Republicans used inflation, the economy, and crime to support their candidates, but these issues weren’t enough to win them a majority.
Now that the midterms are over, all eyes are turning towards the 2024 Presidential Election and potential candidates.