United States Elections Generally Speaking

[Brunski]

Although each state, city, or town may have elections or primaries set at other times during the year General Election Day in the United States, is defined as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every year (it will never be November 1).

Every 2 years The United States House 435 members plus non-voting delegates (for Washington Dc, Puerto Rico etc) and 1/3 of US Senate (referred as a "Class" each class having 33 US Senators up for reelections except for the last class which has 34 (100/3)) are up for reelection which if happens two years into a President's term it's a Mid-term election.

All states hold elections many for Governors, state legislature and special elections on either Presidential Election, Mid-term or Off year (Election year between President Election and Mid-term elections)

So The Election cycle is

Presidential Election
Off Year Election
Mid-Term Election
Off Year Election
Presidential Election

Under the US Constitution, the Electoral College elects the President/Vice President in December (based on Election results of the November election and the Electoral Votes of the States) each US State has many US House members (minimum of 1 US House Member) (based on an allocation which is done every 10 years after the US Census) they have plus their two Senators and Washington DC receiving 3 Electoral Votes (even tho it is not a state as per US Constitution's 23rd Amendment)

The Electoral College results are certified on January 6 of the following year at a Joint Session of Congress in the US House.

As per the Amendment 20th of the US Constitution, the US House and US Senate start their new session on January 3 of the following year at noon (12:00:00pm)

The President-Elect and Vice President-Elect begin serving their term office on January 20 of the following year at noon (12:00:00pm) by tradition the Vice President is sworn in first before Noon.

The Speaker of the US House is elected by a majority of the total voice votes cast (a vote of Present does not count to the total while voting for someone else does). Until a Speaker of the US House is elected and sworn in no other business can be done including swearing in en mass the other members of the US House.

The Vice President is the President of the US Senate and swears in the incoming US Senators (escorted by their fellow State Senator usually)

The next big hype election will be November 3, 2026, the Mid-Term election except maybe the Speaker of the House Election on January 3, 2025 LOL

[Carl]

Thank you Michael for explaining in detail.

The Presidential Election for obvious reasons gets a lot of coverage, but certainly the UK media covers the Mid-Term Elections as they use it as a marker to how the incumbent President and Government are performing. I had never heard of an Off Year Election before.

[Brunski]

Thank you Michael for explaining in detail.

The Presidential Election for obvious reasons gets a lot of coverage, but certainly the UK media covers the Mid-Term Elections as they use it as a marker to how the incumbent President and Government are performing. I had never heard of an Off Year Election before.

Some states just want to be different. LOL, my home state of New Jersey's Governor (4-year term) election is in 2025(an off-year election),for example. While the Presidential and Mid-Term Elections are the "stars of the show," it is also usual for the big networks to have multiple hours of coverage and might get an update on a Governor's race that is happening at the same time.