Since 2016, it seems that during each and every election, more and more is at stake. This is certainly true for presidential elections, but increasingly, midterm elections are rising in importance for seats in the senate and house of representatives. It is safe to say that the 2020 election was a messy one; between the COVID-19 pandemic and the recounts in counties of Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia as a whole. Things, unfortunately, are far from having calmed down.

Now, two years later, the 2022 midterm elections have just wrapped up—almost. 

Prior to the results being released, the common prediction was that the U.S. would see a “massive red wave.” However, as of right now, the Senate is remaining under the control of Democrats. With 50 seats filled by Democrats and 49 by Republicans, not much has changed in the upper chamber. Yet, there is still one seat that is remaining empty for the time being.

Multiple battleground states have had their Senate candidates win by a slim margin; however, Georgia had not yet reached a conclusion by November 9, 2022. Neither of their Senate candidates—incumbent Democrat Ralphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker—won 50% of the vote. Warnock led by a narrow 0.9%, but this was not enough to call his victory.

Currently, Georgia is preparing for a runoff election between Warnock and Walker, which will take place on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. This could lead to an evenly split Senate; nonetheless, the Democrats will likely retain the upper hand because of Vice President Kamala Harris’s role as a tiebreaker in the event of an undecided vote. 

Over in the House of Representatives, things are a different story. The election is still uncalled, but the GOP is climbing closer and closer to victory. At the moment of this article’s publication, the Republican Party has captured 217 seats—one away from having a majority. On the other hand, Democrats have only 208 seats, which does not provide a positive outlook for said party. 

According to Politico’s predictions, three seats are likely to be secured by the Democrats, while four are more likely to be in the hands of Republicans. That leaves three seats remaining: the toss-ups.

The gubernatorial elections, on the other hand, have come to conclusive results. The demographic in the states’ leaders have shifted, with Democrats gaining two seats. Here in Michigan, incumbent Governor Gretchen Whitmer has successfully secured a second term against her opponent, Tudor Dixon. 

The latter result was predicted by many polls, but several other results were slightly more unexpected. Pennsylvania, which was one of the states whose Senate seat flipped colors from red to blue, had predictions showing Republican Mehmet Oz pulling slightly ahead of his opponent.

Democrat John Fetterman wasn’t initially measuring up to the popular TV personality. Oz’s charisma and notoriety pushed him ahead as another Republican candidate for Pennsylvania; Fetterman wasn’t exceptionally appealing for a while, either. Back in May, Fetterman suffered a stroke, which caused him to make slight verbal stumbles during his speeches. In spite of this, Fetterman is mentally lucid and has been in good health of late, causing supporters to rally behind him and push Fetterman to victory over Oz.

Although the massive wave of Republican victories did not sweep across the U.S., there were several interesting and narrow elections. At this point, neither chamber of Congress are likely to change from the projected controlling party. Even so, it is important to keep an eye on the Georgia runoff in the coming month and look toward the 2024 elections.