2014 U.S. midterm elections

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The 2014 midterm elections were a series of local, state, and federal elections held in the United States on 4 November 2014. These included elections for all 435 members of the US House of Representatives, 36 US Senators, 39 state and territorial governorships, and the majority of state legislative seats.

The 2014 midterms have been widely described as a “red wave” on account of the major losses of the Democratic Party. Notably, Republicans won 13 more seats, giving them their largest majority since the 1920s. Republicans also had success in the Senate, where Democrats were defending the majority of the seats up for election. Republicans gained their majority by flipping 9 Democratic-held seats.

Like always with midterm elections, most people saw the 2014 midterms as something of a referendum on the presidency of Barack Obama who at the time was in his second term. As was seen with the 2010 midterms elections, the GOP made gains, flipping 13 house seats to gain their largest majority since the Great Depression began. They also gained a Senate majority for the first time since before the 2006 midterms.

This election was notable in many ways. Republicans had their largest House majority since 1929, they gained the most Senate seats since 1980, Democrats had control of fewest state legislatures since 1860, and it also had the lowest voter turnout since 1942, with just 36% of eligible Americans voting.

US House results

2014 House elections. Dark is gain, light is holds.

Republicans flipped 16 Democrat-held seats in the US House of Representatives, while Democrats only won three Republican-held seats. This put them into a 247-188 majority, their biggest since after the 1928 elections. Examples of notable flips include:

• Illinois - Both the 10th and 12th districts flipped to the GOP. The 10th is very Democrat and in the Chicago area, and like the governorship, flipped in a fluke, reverted in the next election cycle. The 12th is based in south Illinois and is Republican to this day.
• New England - Republicans picked up New Hampshire's 1st and Maine's 2nd districts, both reverted in 2016 and 2018. However, this set groundwork to allow the district to become more Republican in the future Maine's 2nd district would vote for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. This would be the only New England district to vote red, as the rest of New England is pretty solid blue.
• New York - The 1st, 21st, and 24th district flipped, the 1st being the eastern edge, the 21st representing the northern front of the state, and the 24th being the Syracuse area. The representative of the 1st district, Lee Zeldin, retired in 2022 to run for governor of New York. The 24th leans Democrat, but the representative, John Katko, is still in office. The representative in the 21st, Elise Stefanik, is also the chair of the Republican conference after Liz Cheney was ousted, mainly because Stefanik was more pro-Trump then Cheney, as Cheney certified the election and wanted to impeach Trump, while Stefanik voted to acquit Trump and to object to the Pennsylvania results.

US Senate results

2014 US Senate results. Dark is gains and light is holds.

Democrats lost the Senate that the Democrats had gained back in 2006. Despite having a powerful 55-45 advantage, Republicans came back from their landslide defeat in 2008 and gained 9 seats. This put them in a 54-46 advantage, and they also lost zero seats of the 15 they had up. They picked up Alaska, North Carolina, Colorado (which got reverted in 2020), Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana.This was the largest gain for them since Reagan's Revolution in 1980; even the 1994 Republican Revolution was only +8 seats for the GOP. The Republicans would never get stronger from this point.

Many people say that because the Democrats lost the Senate in this election, it caused them to lose the Supreme Court for a generation, as Obama's nominations were blocked by the Senate, and Trump could pick 3 judges without opposition during his presidency. It's also notable because, for the first time in over 130 years, Arkansas had two Republicans. While trending Republicans for decades before this, it took until very recently for them to fully conquer Arkansas.

Governors’ results

2014 US gubernatorial results.Dark is gains, light is holds. Grey is an independent gain who leans democrat and had the democrat endorsement.

In addition to holding three governors’ races in swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida), the Republicans flipped 4 Republican-held governorships in the following states:

• Illinois—Though otherwise a blue state, Illinois governor actually flipped, breaking the Democrats trifecta. This is due to the fact that, as seen in 2010, Illinois is very prone to wave years. However, in the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats picked it back up.
• Maryland-One of the most solid blue states, Larry Hogan narrowly got elected governor, breaking 60 years of Democratic control in the state (due to supermajorities, Democrats held control from 2003-2007), and cottailed many Republicans to the House, narrowing it up to 91-49, Democrat.
• Massachusetts-This very blue state has a long history of Republican governers including Mitt Romney and Bill Weld, although Democrat supermajorities overturned many vetoes, and the governership flipped in 2006, but the GOP picked it back up in 2014, as the incumbent retired.
• Arkansas-Republicans gained a trifecta for the first time since Reconstruction as they flipped the seat from a term limited governor, whilst maintaining the legislature. This was very impressive in such a deep South state, and marked a political realignment.

Republicans did have numerous setbacks though. An incumbent was defeated in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, by nearly ten points, which is nearly five points more than what Mitt Romney lost by in 2012. This was, however, due to his extreme unpopularity. This made him the first incumbent in Pennsylvania to lose re-election since Pennsylvania allowed governors to serve 2 consecutive terms. Also in Alaska, a left leaning independent, Bill Walker, beat the incumbent due to poor approval ratings. They also failed to flip Colorado, and Minnesota. However, Vermont remained undecided as no candidate reached 50%, so it was chosen by the legislature to be a Democrat in a 110-69 vote. That would flip in 2016, as Republican Phil Scott won the open seat as the incumbent retired.

This election is also notable because Iowa governor Terry Branstad became the longest served governor in history after this, winning his 6th term.

Other results

In addition to House, Senate, and governors’ races, Republicans achieved success in:

• State legislatures—Both branches of the Nevada legislature flipped, giving Republicans full control. However, in 2016, Democrats would flip back both branches. They also picked up the Minnesota House of Representatives, the New Hampshire House of Representatives (ending a Democratic trifecta), the New Mexico House of Representatives, the West Virginia House of Delegates (ending a trifecta), the Colorado Senate, the New York Senate and the Maine Senate. They also flipped West Virginia's Senate following a senator switching parties.

All of this resulted in nearly half of Americans living under Republican trifectas after the elections.

Controversy

In June 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated a big part of the Voting Rights Act, so states no longer had to clear voting laws with the federal government. Twenty-two states put in voting restrictions, and while a lot of them were sued, this gave courts a big power in who could vote.. These laws range from photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to voter registration restrictions. In addition to that, Connecticut State Representative Christina Ayala and California State Senator Roderick Wright were both arrested for voter fraud.

Milestones

Several notable milestones came out of the elections. They include:

• Terry Benstrand, governor of Iowa, elected to his 6th term, becomes longest served governor in history.
• Shelley Moore Capito becomes first female senator of West Virginia.
• Nellie Gorbea becomes first Hispanic elected to statewide office in New England, becoming Secretary of State of Rhode Island.
• Maura Healey of Massachusetts becomes first openly gay state attorney general.
• Joni Ernst becomes first woman elected to statewide office in Iowa.
• Mia Love becomes first African-American Republican women in Congress, first Haitian-American in Congress and first African-American elected to Congress from Utah.
• Alex Mooney becomes first Hispanic elected to Congress from West Virginia.
• Perhaps most importantly, Tim Scott of South Carolina becomes the first African American elected to Congress from a former Confederate state since Reconstruction.