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What's At Stake In America's Midterm Elections


A graphic explainer providing an overview of the current and historical political control of both congress and the executive branch of the United States government. 
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This explainer was long-listed in the 2018 Information is Beautiful awards. Read the article in German here. Written and visualized in collaboration with David Bauer and Ann-Dorit Boy.




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Which party historically has controlled the branches of congress?

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The top portion of each house represents the Executive Branch of the government and reflects the party of the sitting president. The bottom left: Senate, bottom right: House of Representatives. 



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The democrats need to defend significantly more senate seats
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Each dot represents a Senator/seat that is up for election in the 2018 midterms. The color of the state reflects how the state voted during the 2016 presidential elections. 



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The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives across  America
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The distribution of seats given to each state are based on the population of a state.  


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Unpopular presidents experience larger losses
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As a rule, the president’s party loses seats in the midterm election of their first term.