American voters are called to decide on Tuesday in numerous votes, in parallel with the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The renewal of a large part of Congress will be scrutinized in particular to know which of the Democrats or the Republicans will have the majority in both chambers.
An election that hides many others. American voters are called to the polls on Tuesday, November 5, to elect who will succeed Joe Biden in the White House. But in parallel with the vote between Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, many other votes are being played out that day. Parliamentary elections, appointment of new governors, referendums on key issues such as the right to abortion… Franceinfo details the other votes which are taking place on Tuesday in the United States and whose results promise, for some, to be decisive for the future administration in power.
The complete renewal of the House of Representatives
New legislative elections are organized, two years after the mid-term elections (or “midterms”). Every two years, the 435 seats in the House of Representatives – the American equivalent of the French National Assembly – are subject to a new election. Tuesday's vote is particularly decisive, because it could define a new majority within the hemicycle, and thus influence the decisions of the new administration. Currently, the Republicans have a narrow majority, with 220 elected to 212 for the Democrats (three seats are vacant after deaths and one resignation).
Of these 435 votes, nearly 10% (43 seats in the most contested constituencies) are considered decisive in determining the future political color of the House of Representatives, according to the Cook Political Report website. Around twenty are particularly uncertain and the two parties will once again be neck and neck to obtain the majority (218 seats).
According to USA Todaythe results in several districts in California and in the State of New York will be scrutinized in particular. In California, for example, four Republican elected officials will have to defend their seats in territories which voted in favor of Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. Several elections also look very undecided in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
A third of the seats at stake in the Senate
In the upper house of the United States Congress, senators are elected to six-year terms. And every two years, a third of the seats are renewed during the presidential or mid-term elections. Of the 100 seats in the Senate, 34 are at stake on November 5, and seven of them, particularly contested, should define the next majority in this chamber, according to the New York Times. Since the start of 2023, the 49 Democratic senators and their two independent allies have had a very slim majority in the chamber, compared to the 49 Republicans.
The Democratic camp will have to win in the seven most contested constituencies to have as many elected officials as the Republican party in the Senate, underlines the New York Times. The future vice-president, who in the United States also chairs the Senate, will determine the majority in the chamber. The Republicans could therefore, depending on the results of the presidential election and the seven most contested constituencies, wrest a majority in the upper house of Congress. The stakes are high, because senators have many powers – notably that of validating treaties.
In Michigan, one of the key elections pits Republican Mike Rogers against Democrat Elissa Slotkin, and in Ohio, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown faces conservative Bernie Moreno. Other votes to watch: the battle between progressive Ruben Gallego and Trumpist Kari Lake in Arizona, or the confrontation between Senator Ted Cruz and Colin Allred in Texas.
Governors to be elected in eleven states
In eleven American states, voters are called upon to appoint a new governor, as detailed on the specialized site 270 to Win. The states in question are Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington. The territories of Puerto Rico and American Samoa are also affected, recalls the national governors association.
The gubernatorial elections in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Washington state promise to be particularly close, notes USA Today. In North Carolina, after two terms for Democrat Roy Cooper, progressive candidate Josh Stein faces Mark Robinson, supported by Donald Trump. In Washington State, Democratic Governor Jay Inslee is retiring and Republican candidate Dave Reichert hopes to win against Bob Ferguson.
Decisive referendums, particularly on the right to abortion
Americans are also invited to vote on numerous subjects during referendums in several states, notably on the question of the right and access to abortion. The subject is one of the key themes of Kamala Harris' campaign, two years after the revocation of the Roe versus Wade ruling and the constitutional right to abortion. Voters will vote on the subject in no less than ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Missouri.
As the magazine points out Time, many of these referendums are citizen initiatives, like “Proposition 139” in Arizona. It aims to establish “a fundamental right to abortion under the Constitution” of the State, and to allow women to have recourse to abortion up to approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy. In this key state, abortion is permitted up to 15 weeks, with exceptions in cases of medical emergency. In Nebraska, two proposals on the right to abortion clash: one of them aims to include the right to abortion until the viability of the fetus in the State Constitution (exceptions are subsequently planned in the event of a risk to the health of pregnant people). The second, on the contrary, seeks to prohibit any abortion after the end of the first trimester, with a few exceptions, specifies Time.
In total, 147 measures will be the subject of a referendum in 41 states on November 5, according to the count from the specialized site Ballotpedia. California will notably have to decide on ten proposals, from the minimum wage to responses to climate disasters, details the Los Angeles Times. Among them, the toughening of penalties for the possession of drugs, including fentanyl, which is wreaking havoc on the American population.
Local legislative elections
At the same time, legislative ballots are also organized in 44 American states, in order to appoint representatives and senators in the territorial parliaments in question, recalls the national conference of state legislatures. In total, 5,808 seats will be up for election in November, or 78% of the 7,386 legislative seats in the United States.
Added to this are other elections such as that of mayors and their municipal council. Voters in Phoenix (Arizona), San Francisco (California) and Austin (Texas) will have to vote on November 5, illustrious Ballotpedia. This year,ix seats of attorney general and seven positions of secretary of state are also subject to elections, specifies the policy center from the University of Virginia.
