ELECTION HISTORY · 1976–2024
The history that weighs on 2026
Half a century of American elections: how the House swings at each midterm, how the presidential map was redrawn state by state, which states decide it now, and how the Senate has changed hands.
- Presidential elections
- 13
- Senate cycles
- 25
- Battleground states
- 7
Bars above the line: Democratic popular-vote win; below: Republican. In 2000 and 2016 the popular-vote winner lost the Electoral College (striped).
THE HOUSE
The House, cycle by cycle
Every two years the whole House is elected. In midterms the president's party has lost seats every time since 2010; in presidential years the swings are small.
Democratic seat change
- Turnout
- 50.3%
- House control
- Democratic
- Seats above 218
- 17
THE PRESIDENTIAL MAP
Half a century of presidential maps
The map has turned almost inside out: the South went from Democratic to Republican, the West Coast and the Northeast the other way. Press play to watch it move.
THE BATTLEGROUNDS
Seven states that decide it now
The presidential margin in each battleground since 1976, against the national popular vote (dashed). Most of them sit within a few points of the line: that is what makes them battlegrounds.
THE SENATE
The Senate, cycle by cycle
A third of the Senate is elected every two years, by class. Pick a year to see who won each race; 2026 elects the class II seats, last elected in 2020, 2014 and 2008.
Sources: House composition and turnout as compiled for the site (U.S. House Clerk; United States Elections Project); presidential results by state, MIT Election Data and Science Lab; Senate results, FiveThirtyEight election-results (CC BY 4.0).