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Midterm elections in the United States are the general elections that are held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term of office, on Election Day on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. These elections represent a critical moment in American democracy, offering voters the opportunity to shape the direction of government and influence policy decisions that affect their daily lives. Understanding what candidates do during midterm campaigns provides valuable insight into the democratic process and helps voters make informed decisions at the ballot box.

Understanding Midterm Elections: The Foundation

Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms include all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate. Beyond federal positions, 34 of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors for four-year terms during midterm elections, while Vermont and New Hampshire elect governors to two-year terms in both midterm and presidential elections, thus 36 governors are elected during midterm elections.

Many states also elect officers to their state legislatures in midterm years, there are also elections held at the municipal level, and on the ballot are many mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of citizen and legislatively referred initiatives. This makes midterm elections incredibly comprehensive events that shape governance at every level of American society.

Midterms take place in the middle of a Presidential term: the midterms empower voters to voice their approval or dismay at how the current administration is governing. Because these elections are so closely tied into the timing of the Presidential term, they are often seen as a barometer of the President's performance.

Strategic Campaign Planning and Preparation

Before candidates even hit the campaign trail, they engage in extensive strategic planning that forms the foundation of their entire midterm effort. This preparation phase is crucial for determining whether a campaign will succeed or fail.

Developing a Clear Campaign Message

Candidates must have a good motivation to run, and when they decide to run, the first thing everyone will ask is "why are you running?" They should be able to answer this question clearly and succinctly, articulating their motivation, how it's connected to their community, and why they are the right candidate for this moment. This foundational message becomes the cornerstone of all campaign activities throughout the midterm cycle.

Politics is a comparative game, and any political campaign strategy should be based on a clear contrast between the candidate and anyone else in the field, giving voters a reason to choose them, and that reason should be woven throughout campaign activities. Creating this contrast doesn't necessarily mean running negative campaigns—candidates can establish differences through positive messaging that highlights their unique qualifications, values, and policy positions.

Understanding the Electoral Math

Candidates must know how many votes they need to win, as understanding the math and its impact on a particular race can mean the difference between running in the right race and wasting time on an unwinnable one. This involves analyzing voter registration data, historical turnout patterns, and demographic trends within their district or state.

Successful candidates invest significant time studying their electorate. They examine past election results, identify swing precincts, and determine which voter groups will be most critical to their success. This data-driven approach allows campaigns to allocate resources efficiently and focus their efforts where they'll have the greatest impact.

Intensive Campaigning Activities

Once the groundwork is laid, candidates engage in a wide range of campaigning activities designed to increase their visibility, communicate their message, and persuade voters to support them on Election Day.

Traveling and Meeting Voters

Candidates spend countless hours traveling throughout their districts or states to meet voters face-to-face. These interactions take many forms, from town hall meetings and community forums to coffee shop conversations and factory tours. The goal is to demonstrate accessibility, listen to constituent concerns, and build personal connections that translate into votes.

Candidates are seeking to bring their campaigns directly to the voters in targeted and focused manners. This direct voter contact has become increasingly important in an era of political polarization, where personal authenticity and genuine engagement can make the difference in close races.

During these travels, candidates often tailor their appearances to specific communities and demographics. They might attend church services, visit senior centers, speak at high school assemblies, or participate in local festivals and parades. Each appearance is an opportunity to demonstrate understanding of local issues and build rapport with different segments of the electorate.

Participating in Debates and Forums

Debates represent high-stakes opportunities for candidates to showcase their knowledge, articulate their positions, and draw contrasts with opponents. These events receive significant media coverage and can dramatically shift the trajectory of a campaign. Candidates prepare extensively for debates, studying policy details, practicing responses to anticipated questions, and developing memorable sound bites that will resonate with voters.

Beyond formal debates, candidates participate in candidate forums hosted by civic organizations, interest groups, and media outlets. These events allow voters to hear directly from candidates on specific issues ranging from education and healthcare to economic development and public safety. Candidates use these platforms to demonstrate expertise and connect their personal experiences to policy solutions.

Attending Rallies and Public Events

Campaign rallies serve multiple purposes in midterm elections. They energize supporters, generate media coverage, and create momentum for the campaign. Candidates deliver speeches that inspire their base, outline their vision for the future, and motivate volunteers to continue working on behalf of the campaign.

These events also provide opportunities for candidates to demonstrate their appeal and organizational strength. A well-attended rally signals enthusiasm and can attract undecided voters who want to support a winning campaign. Candidates often coordinate rallies with visits from prominent party leaders, celebrities, or other high-profile supporters who can draw larger crowds and generate additional media attention.

Comprehensive Fundraising Efforts

Modern political campaigns require substantial financial resources, making fundraising one of the most time-consuming activities for midterm candidates. The ability to raise money often determines which candidates can compete effectively and which will struggle to get their message out.

Individual Donor Outreach

Candidates spend significant time soliciting donations from individual supporters. This involves making phone calls, sending emails, hosting fundraising events, and meeting with potential donors. Small-dollar donations from grassroots supporters have become increasingly important, with many campaigns building extensive online fundraising operations that allow supporters to contribute easily through websites and social media platforms.

Major donor cultivation requires a different approach. Candidates attend exclusive fundraising dinners, participate in private receptions, and schedule one-on-one meetings with wealthy supporters who can make maximum contributions or bundle donations from their networks. These relationships often extend beyond a single election cycle, creating ongoing support networks for candidates throughout their political careers.

Political Action Committee Engagement

Candidates work to secure support from political action committees (PACs) representing various interest groups, industries, and ideological movements. Forming a political action committee to help Democratic candidates in the midterm elections has become a common strategy for prominent political figures looking to expand their influence.

These relationships involve attending PAC events, completing questionnaires about policy positions, and participating in interviews with PAC leadership. Endorsements from influential PACs can bring not only financial support but also volunteer networks, expertise, and credibility with specific voter constituencies.

Digital Fundraising Innovation

Candidates have used far more digital advertising in their campaigns, in large part targeting a much younger audience, with over $200 million invested in digital advertising alone, working to secure key television spots during National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games leading up to November.

Digital fundraising has revolutionized campaign finance, allowing candidates to reach potential donors through email campaigns, social media appeals, and text message solicitations. Successful campaigns develop sophisticated email lists, segment supporters based on giving history and interests, and craft compelling appeals that motivate donations. The ability to raise money online has democratized campaign finance to some degree, allowing candidates without extensive wealthy donor networks to compete more effectively.

Sophisticated Voter Engagement Strategies

Getting supporters to actually cast ballots is often more challenging than persuading them to support a candidate. Midterm candidates employ various voter engagement tactics to ensure their supporters participate in the election.

Ground Game and Door-to-Door Canvassing

Canvassing has been shown to be one of the most effective ways in which voters can be mobilized, with campaigns spending around 50 Million Dollars investing in professional canvassing, cooperating with a number of different organizations (including non-profits) to sustain their mobilization efforts across the country.

Door-to-door canvassing involves volunteers and paid staff visiting voters at their homes to discuss the election, answer questions, and encourage turnout. This personal contact is particularly effective for identifying supporters, persuading undecided voters, and ensuring that committed supporters have a plan to vote. Campaigns maintain detailed databases tracking these interactions, allowing them to follow up with voters multiple times before Election Day.

Door-knocking and town hall conversations foster spaces of engagement that may be likened to forms of political deliberation rather than pure image-making. This grassroots approach builds authentic connections between candidates and voters, creating relationships that extend beyond a single election cycle.

Phone Banking and Text Messaging

Candidates organize extensive phone banking operations where volunteers call voters to identify supporters, persuade undecided voters, and remind people to vote. These calls follow carefully crafted scripts designed to deliver key messages efficiently while allowing for genuine conversation about voter concerns.

Text messaging has emerged as an increasingly important voter contact tool. Campaigns send targeted text messages to specific voter groups, providing information about polling locations, early voting opportunities, and candidate positions on issues. The immediacy and high open rates of text messages make them particularly effective for last-minute voter mobilization efforts.

Social Media Engagement

Social media platforms have become essential tools for voter engagement during midterm campaigns. Candidates maintain active presences on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms, sharing content that ranges from policy announcements and event photos to personal stories and responses to current events.

Effective social media strategies involve more than just broadcasting messages. Candidates engage directly with followers, respond to comments and questions, and participate in online conversations about issues important to their constituents. This two-way communication helps humanize candidates and build communities of engaged supporters who amplify campaign messages through their own networks.

Voters are consuming media across fragmented platforms. This reality requires candidates to develop multi-platform strategies that reach different demographic groups where they consume information. Younger voters might be reached primarily through TikTok and Instagram, while older voters might be more responsive to Facebook and email communications.

Community Events and Organizing

Candidates organize and participate in community events designed to engage voters in less formal settings. These might include volunteer appreciation events, issue-focused roundtables, voter registration drives, and get-out-the-vote activities. Such events serve multiple purposes: they energize existing supporters, attract new volunteers, generate local media coverage, and demonstrate the candidate's commitment to community engagement.

Many campaigns establish local campaign offices that serve as hubs for volunteer activity. These offices become gathering places where supporters can pick up yard signs, make phone calls, organize canvassing routes, and connect with other campaign volunteers. The sense of community created in these spaces can be crucial for maintaining volunteer enthusiasm throughout the long campaign season.

Data-Driven Campaign Operations

Modern midterm campaigns rely heavily on data analytics to guide decision-making and optimize resource allocation. Candidates and their teams use sophisticated tools to understand the electorate and target their efforts effectively.

Voter Targeting and Microtargeting

Campaigns should stop centering outreach on an imagined moderate voter, use voting history and issue-based signals to identify true ticket splitters, and shape messages around specific issue positions and authentic candidate stories instead.

Campaigns develop detailed voter files that combine public voting records with consumer data, survey responses, and demographic information. This allows them to segment the electorate into specific groups and tailor messages to resonate with each group's particular concerns and values. A message about education funding might be targeted to parents with school-age children, while messages about Social Security might focus on senior citizens.

Panelists agreed that demographics alone provide an incomplete picture of voter behavior, as the 2024 cycle delivered some of the most unexpected demographic shifts in recent history, with Democratic operatives registering new voters of color who later supported Trump. This reality has forced campaigns to develop more sophisticated targeting models that go beyond simple demographic categories.

Polling and Focus Groups

Strategists are interested in quickly persuading voters, gathering data from polls and focus groups. Campaigns conduct regular polling to track their standing in the race, test messages, and identify emerging issues that might affect voter behavior. This information guides decisions about where to campaign, what issues to emphasize, and how to respond to opponent attacks.

Focus groups provide qualitative insights that complement quantitative polling data. By listening to small groups of voters discuss issues and candidates, campaigns gain understanding of the language voters use, the concerns that motivate them, and the arguments that resonate most effectively. These insights inform everything from advertising scripts to debate preparation.

Field Operations Management

Campaigns use data systems to manage their field operations, tracking volunteer activities, voter contacts, and persuasion efforts. These systems allow campaign managers to monitor progress toward goals, identify areas needing additional attention, and ensure that resources are deployed efficiently. Real-time data helps campaigns adapt quickly to changing circumstances and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Media Relations and Communications

Effective communication with voters through various media channels is essential for midterm candidates seeking to build name recognition and shape public perception of their candidacy.

Earned Media Strategies

Candidates work to generate news coverage through press releases, media availabilities, and newsworthy events. They cultivate relationships with reporters, editorial boards, and political commentators who can help amplify their messages to broader audiences. Securing positive media coverage is particularly important for candidates who lack the resources for extensive paid advertising.

Press conferences, policy announcements, and responses to breaking news provide opportunities for candidates to demonstrate leadership and expertise while generating media attention. Campaigns carefully time these events to maximize coverage and ensure their messages reach target audiences when they're most receptive.

Television advertising remains a significant component of many midterm campaigns, particularly for statewide races and competitive House districts. Candidates invest heavily in producing and airing commercials that introduce them to voters, highlight their qualifications, contrast their positions with opponents, and motivate supporters to vote.

Digital advertising has grown dramatically in importance. Campaigns have largely outnumbered opponents in the quantity of advertisements online. Online ads can be targeted with precision to specific demographic groups, geographic areas, and even individual voters based on their browsing history and online behavior. This allows campaigns to deliver different messages to different audiences and track the effectiveness of their advertising in real-time.

Radio advertising, direct mail, and outdoor advertising (billboards, yard signs, etc.) round out the paid media mix. Each medium serves specific purposes and reaches different segments of the electorate. Successful campaigns develop integrated media strategies that reinforce messages across multiple platforms.

Rapid Response Operations

Campaigns maintain rapid response teams ready to counter opponent attacks, correct misinformation, and capitalize on opponent mistakes. In the fast-paced environment of modern campaigns, the ability to respond quickly to developments can prevent damaging narratives from taking hold and create opportunities to shift the campaign conversation in favorable directions.

These operations monitor news coverage, social media conversations, and opponent communications constantly, ready to deploy responses through press releases, social media posts, and surrogate spokespersons. The goal is to control the narrative and ensure that the campaign's perspective on events reaches voters quickly and effectively.

Building and Managing Campaign Organizations

Behind every successful midterm candidate is a well-organized campaign team working to execute the campaign strategy and manage the countless details required to run an effective operation.

Recruiting and Training Staff

Candidates recruit experienced campaign professionals to fill key roles including campaign manager, finance director, communications director, field director, and digital director. These staff members bring expertise in their respective areas and work together to implement the campaign strategy.

Beyond paid staff, campaigns recruit and train volunteers who provide the people power necessary for voter contact efforts. Volunteer recruitment involves reaching out through personal networks, hosting volunteer recruitment events, and leveraging social media to attract supporters willing to donate their time. Training ensures volunteers understand their roles, feel confident in their abilities, and represent the campaign effectively.

Coalition Building

Successful candidates build coalitions of supporters that extend beyond their party's base. This involves reaching out to community organizations, labor unions, business groups, faith communities, and other stakeholders who can provide endorsements, volunteers, and access to their members or constituencies.

Coalition building requires understanding the priorities of different groups and demonstrating how the candidate's positions align with their interests. Candidates attend meetings, participate in organizational events, and develop relationships with leaders who can mobilize their members on behalf of the campaign.

Campaigns must navigate complex campaign finance laws, election regulations, and reporting requirements. Candidates work with legal counsel and compliance staff to ensure all activities comply with applicable laws, financial disclosures are filed accurately and on time, and the campaign avoids legal pitfalls that could derail their efforts.

This includes maintaining detailed records of contributions and expenditures, ensuring donors don't exceed contribution limits, properly coordinating with party committees and outside groups, and filing required reports with federal and state election authorities. Compliance failures can result in fines, negative publicity, and damage to the campaign's credibility.

Issue Development and Policy Positioning

Candidates must develop detailed positions on a wide range of issues and be prepared to discuss them with voters, media, and interest groups throughout the campaign.

Research and Policy Development

Campaigns conduct extensive research on issues important to voters in their districts or states. This involves studying existing policies, consulting with subject matter experts, reviewing academic research, and understanding the practical implications of different policy approaches. Candidates develop position papers that outline their stances on major issues and provide detailed explanations of their proposed solutions.

The top message is the economy and affordability. The key to winning is to home in on economic issues — particularly affordability. Understanding which issues matter most to voters helps candidates prioritize their policy development efforts and ensure their campaigns address the concerns that will drive voting decisions.

Opposition Research

Campaigns conduct research on opponents to understand their records, identify vulnerabilities, and prepare for attacks. This research examines voting records, public statements, business dealings, and other aspects of opponents' backgrounds that might be relevant to voters. Campaigns also conduct self-research to identify and prepare responses to potential attacks on their own candidate.

Opposition research informs campaign strategy, helps develop contrast messages, and prepares candidates for debates and other forums where they'll face direct questions about their opponents. Ethical campaigns use this research responsibly, focusing on legitimate policy differences and relevant aspects of opponents' records rather than personal attacks or misleading information.

Special Considerations for Midterm Elections

Midterm elections present unique challenges and opportunities that distinguish them from presidential election years and require candidates to adapt their strategies accordingly.

Lower Turnout Dynamics

Midterm elections historically generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections, and while presidential elections have had turnouts of about 50–60% over the past 60 years, only about 40% of those eligible to vote go to the polls in midterm elections.

This lower turnout environment means candidates must focus intensively on mobilizing their core supporters rather than relying on the broader electorate that participates in presidential years. Many gains came from "low-information voters," people who are not as informed about issues, who only vote in presidential years, and this group inflated performance among certain demographic groups but did not represent a durable coalition, as these same voters turned out in 2024 but skipped the 2022 midterms (and will likely skip them again in 2026).

Presidential Performance as Context

Historically, midterm elections often see the president's party lose seats in Congress, and also frequently see the president's opposite-party opponents gain control of one or both houses of Congress. This historical pattern influences how candidates from both parties approach their campaigns.

Candidates from the president's party must decide how closely to align themselves with the administration, balancing the benefits of presidential support against the risks of being tied to unpopular policies or performance. Opposition party candidates often frame their campaigns as referendums on the president's performance, arguing that voters should elect them to provide a check on presidential power.

Positioning for Future Races

For some candidates, midterm campaigns serve purposes beyond winning a single election. Pennsylvania is a must-win state for any presidential candidate, and if candidates can demonstrate their ability to deliver their home state by first delivering electoral wins for Democrats in the midterms, they will have major influence in the 2028 race.

Candidates are testing the waters, holding town hall meetings in key states like Iowa and doing podcast interviews with influencers, having raised $15 million for tickets in 2024 and will likely help fundraise this year. These activities help build national profiles, develop donor networks, and establish credibility for potential future campaigns at higher levels of office.

The Evolution of Campaign Tactics

Campaign tactics continue to evolve as technology advances, voter behavior changes, and new communication platforms emerge. Understanding these trends helps explain what modern midterm candidates do and why.

Adapting to Changing Media Consumption

This uncertainty creates an opportunity for campaigns that are willing to challenge assumptions, invest in integrated data, and build authentic relationships with voters, as speakers at conferences aligned on one point: success in 2026 will not come from the largest budgets or the flashiest tools but will come from a deep understanding of voters, early and consistent communication, and an adaptive strategy grounded in real data.

Candidates must meet voters where they consume information, which increasingly means diversifying beyond traditional media. Podcast appearances, YouTube videos, TikTok content, and streaming platform advertising have joined television commercials and newspaper interviews as essential campaign communication tools. This fragmentation requires campaigns to produce more content in more formats than ever before.

Emphasis on Authenticity and Local Expertise

Political campaigns must shift from data-driven marketing to valuing local organizers' expertise to rebuild trust, mobilize voters, and counter illiberal threats. Rather than participating and assessing what exactly campaigns did wrong in terms of messaging, there is a call to action: namely, to put the expertise of local organizers at the center of campaign strategy.

This represents a shift away from purely top-down, consultant-driven campaigns toward approaches that value grassroots input and local knowledge. Candidates who successfully integrate local perspectives into their campaigns often develop more authentic connections with voters and more effective strategies for mobilizing support.

Responding to Demographic Shifts

Demographic coalitions are shifting and national sentiment continues to shift. To avoid misreading the data, campaigns need to understand not only who voters are, but how often they vote and which issues drive their choices.

Candidates can no longer rely on traditional assumptions about how different demographic groups will vote. They must develop nuanced understanding of the cross-pressures affecting different voter segments and craft messages that speak to voters' actual concerns rather than stereotypical assumptions about their priorities.

Get-Out-The-Vote Operations

As Election Day approaches, campaigns shift their focus almost entirely to ensuring their supporters actually cast ballots. This final phase of the campaign is often decisive in close races.

Early Voting and Absentee Ballot Programs

Many states offer early voting and absentee voting options that allow supporters to cast ballots before Election Day. Campaigns develop programs to encourage early voting, helping supporters request absentee ballots, providing information about early voting locations and hours, and following up to ensure ballots are returned.

Early voting programs allow campaigns to "bank" votes before Election Day, reducing the number of supporters they need to mobilize on the final day and providing insurance against bad weather, long lines, or other Election Day complications that might prevent supporters from voting.

Election Day Operations

On Election Day itself, campaigns deploy volunteers to polling places to provide assistance to voters, distribute campaign literature (where legally permitted), and monitor for problems. They operate phone banks to remind supporters to vote and offer rides to the polls for those who need transportation.

Sophisticated campaigns track which of their identified supporters have voted throughout the day, allowing them to focus their final get-out-the-vote efforts on supporters who haven't yet cast ballots. This real-time tracking ensures resources are used efficiently during the crucial final hours of the campaign.

The Importance of Midterm Participation

Understanding what candidates do during midterm elections helps voters appreciate the effort required to run for office and the importance of their participation in the democratic process.

Using your vote during the midterm elections means you help choose officials who represent your views on issues like student debt, climate change, reproductive rights, and more. Midterms set the stage for how the next two years of governance will unfold — and they help shape the political landscape going into the next presidential election.

Midterms determine which political party—Democratic or Republican—will control each chamber of Congress for the next two years, and the party in control of either chamber is the party more likely to get its proposed legislation passed in that chamber. This makes every midterm election consequential for the direction of public policy and the functioning of government.

For voters seeking to make informed decisions, understanding the full scope of candidate activities during midterm campaigns provides context for evaluating their qualifications, assessing their commitment to public service, and determining whether their priorities align with community needs. The extensive effort candidates invest in campaigning reflects the significance of the offices they seek and the responsibility they hope to assume on behalf of their constituents.

Summary of Key Candidate Activities During Midterms

  • Strategic Planning: Developing clear campaign messages, understanding electoral math, and creating comprehensive campaign strategies
  • Direct Voter Contact: Traveling extensively to meet voters, participating in town halls, and engaging in door-to-door canvassing
  • Debate Participation: Preparing for and participating in debates and candidate forums to showcase knowledge and positions
  • Rally Organization: Hosting and attending rallies to energize supporters and generate media coverage
  • Comprehensive Fundraising: Soliciting donations from individual donors, PACs, and online supporters to finance campaign operations
  • Digital Engagement: Maintaining active social media presences and developing sophisticated online advertising campaigns
  • Phone Banking: Organizing volunteer phone banks to identify supporters and persuade undecided voters
  • Text Messaging: Using text message campaigns for voter outreach and mobilization
  • Data Analytics: Employing voter targeting, polling, and data-driven decision making to optimize campaign effectiveness
  • Media Relations: Cultivating relationships with journalists and generating earned media coverage
  • Paid Advertising: Producing and distributing television, radio, digital, and print advertisements
  • Coalition Building: Developing relationships with community organizations, interest groups, and stakeholders
  • Policy Development: Researching issues and developing detailed policy positions
  • Opposition Research: Studying opponents' records and preparing contrast messages
  • Volunteer Recruitment: Building teams of volunteers to support campaign activities
  • Get-Out-The-Vote: Implementing programs to ensure supporters cast ballots through early voting, absentee voting, and Election Day operations

Looking Ahead: The Future of Midterm Campaigning

As technology continues to evolve and voter behavior changes, the activities candidates undertake during midterm elections will continue to adapt. Artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, and new communication platforms will create both opportunities and challenges for future campaigns.

However, certain fundamentals are likely to remain constant. Successful candidates will still need to articulate clear visions for the future, build authentic connections with voters, organize effective campaign operations, and motivate supporters to participate in the democratic process. The specific tactics may change, but the core requirements of effective campaigning—hard work, strategic thinking, and genuine commitment to public service—will endure.

For citizens interested in understanding American democracy, learning about what candidates do during midterm elections provides valuable insight into how our political system functions and why active participation matters. Whether as voters, volunteers, donors, or candidates themselves, Americans who engage with the midterm election process help shape the future of their communities and their country.

To learn more about upcoming elections and how to participate, visit USA.gov's election information page or Vote.org for voter registration and election resources.