Midterm Election Results
Emily Cobb | November 17, 2022
On Nov. 8, the U.S. midterm elections were held. Due to the term limit for the House of Representatives being two years, all representative seats were up for election or reelection. A third of the U.S. Senate seats had elections and there were 36 governor elections. With this election, Democrats kept their senate majority and the majority for the house is still up in the air.
Philip Otterness started teaching at Warren Wilson College (WWC) in 1995 and retired after the 2020-2021 school year. He was brought back for this year as a Professor Emeritus and as the Interim Chair for the Department of History and Political Science.
“It looks like it will probably be the Republicans winning the house,” Otterness said. “I think you're going to end up with a kind of stalemate.”
This will occur due to the Senate and President being a different political party than the House. It makes it more difficult to pass legislation, due to bi-partisanship being necessary. Though Otterness said there was some hope when it came to cooperation since some of the candidates Trump endorsed lost.
Some Americans label this election season as unimportant because it is not a presidential election. Despite this, many other influential elections are held during the midterm. Some argue that their vote does not matter due to America’s current election system and find themself discouraged when it comes to voting. They argue that their vote is merely one and does not have the power to swing elections.
“Look at the number of close elections where those votes make a big difference,” Otterness said in response.
Despite some having a lack of enthusiasm, voter turnout was almost as high as it was in the 2020 presidential election, while in some places, the voter turnout was higher.
A notable election for WWC students was a U.S. senate seat, which went to Ted Budd of the Republican Party.
Noah Jennings is a freshman who works on the Mail Room Crew. He decided to vote in the N.C. midterm election, feeling that it was his civic duty to do so.
“Everybody should vote, it’s a basic action you can do for your country,” Jennings said. “Even though midterm elections aren’t presidential elections they’re still important. Even if you’re disappointed in who wins the election you still voted and put your thoughts out there.”
Olivia Crescitelli, a sophomore who works on the Chapel Crew, had a conflicting view.
“As an independent, I have a hard time caring about midterm elections just because I feel like there’s hardly anyone who represents how I feel,” Crescitelli said.
Otterness added to that idea of some folks not feeling properly represented with the candidate options. Bringing up a larger issue of how the current election and political system works. He noted that though issues like gerrymandering and a lack of availability to vote were all problems, there was an even bigger one: the bipartisan system.
“The larger threat to democracy is to look at the system, and if the system cannot ever accomplish anything, then you can lose hope in it,” Otterness said.
Despite this, Crescitelli still voted in the N.C. midterms.
“You have a voice, and you’ve got to use it,” Crescitelli said. “You can’t really complain about the state of the world if you aren’t doing anything to try and change it.”
Not only do midterms elect candidates, but they also help to understand the current political climate in America. Otterness spoke about how it is a way for citizens to express how they feel about the current government and president.
“This gives an official poll, and you sort of see where everybody stands on issues, and you get a sense of which way the wind is blowing,” Otterness said.
With certain media outlets having issues with bias, the general public can find it hard which news source they use when following elections and candidates, as well as the results from the races.
Otterness recommends reading The New York Times when it comes to elections. Though the news source has some left-leaning elements, its election analysis utilizes a lot of charts and mapping that viewers can look at. Data analysis does not involve bias, however conclusions and predictions can be open to different interpretations, making this a helpful source when it comes to elections.
Another source to use is Google. When one googles the results of an election, instantly a map with the result, the vote count, percentages and other information will pop up. It also provides the option to see an overview of the election and news about the election. During an election, it shows you the percentages of votes counted, who has the lead, the number of each votes a candidate has, which counties have votes being counted and other useful information that is not accompanied by any bias or opinion.
When it comes to elections, researching the candidates who are running and finding reliable sources are both steps in the process that one could take when exercising their civic duty to vote.