
The President Concedes
"Obviously, the Republicans had a good night," Obama said. Now what can he get done with the GOP?
"Obviously, the Republicans had a good night," Obama said. Now what can he get done with the GOP?
Like so many before him, Mitch McConnell promised an end to dysfunction as the next Senate majority leader.
Even before all the ballots are cast, Harry Reid's top aide has unleashed his fury against the White House. But the outgoing majority leader is sticking around for Obama's final two years.
The cool, detached president didn't have the right political skills in an election where voters prized extremes over nuance. He and his party paid the price.
Yes, Republicans won the Senate, but it may be their gubernatorial victories that hurt President Obama's party the most.
A survey of direct democracy on subjects from abortion to bear-hunting-with-donuts to wage increases for workers at the bottom.
The fortunes of political parties wax and wane, but the movement to legalize cannabis won key victories Tuesday that portend a generational shift in drug policy.
As in 2010, the GOP overshot its targets in this year's midterm elections, taking the Senate and winning House and statehouse races across the board. Now what will they do?
Photos from the polls and the stump as the midterm winds down
News and analysis from around the nation as voters decide who will control the U.S. Senate, House, and statehouses.
Schools across the country are being used as polling stations, but the students who attend them may not understand why these elections matter.
"Don't vote—it just encourages them," the old saw used to go. Au contraire. Even-lower turnout is about the only thing that could make our terrible election system worse.
It all has to do with those chipper “I’m a Voter!” buttons.
Amid a nationwide orgy of partisanship, a short, eclectic reading list to help red, blue, and purple Americans keep things in perspective.
Republicans are expected to take control of the Senate and gain seats in the House.
The Kentucky Republican is poised to take control of a new Senate majority Tuesday, but he remains remote and inscrutable.
The GOP is poised to win control of the Senate. But will the results be known on Wednesday morning?
Abandoned by Democrats and shunned by Republicans, many Hispanics don't see why they should vote this year. In Colorado, they could decide the election.
On the eve of the midterm elections, 42 percent of Americans endorse his performance—and that's alarmingly high given his administration's ethical and legal lapses.
The Republican senator appeared on three Sunday talk shows to explain—and double down on—his recent anti-party positions.
Riding around Manchester with Lou D'Allesandro as he rounds up votes and frets over Senator Jeanne Shaheen's chances against Scott Brown
Why haven't Joni Ernst's flirtation with Agenda 21 or Tom Cotton's ideas about ISIS gotten more attention?
If the initiative passes, it could have implications for everything from in-vitro fertilization to end-of-life care.
Colorado's Cory Gardner may have found a way to turn a blue state red by co-opting Democrats' tactics—and their message.
An independent candidate deals with a "what-if?" question
The GOP has a good chance to win control on Tuesday. Whether they can control themselves is another question.
Once the key to President Obama's appeal, young voters have grown disenchanted, and those who are likely to vote want a Republican Congress.
In the fifth edition of The Atlantic's Midterm Cheat Sheet, Roby Brock discusses the contest between Mark Pryor and Tom Cotton.
After the debacle of the Iraq War, Democrats were suddenly the party Americans trusted to protect them. This midterm election suggests that's over.
Trailing in Virginia, the Republican Senate nominee goes long with an ad defending Washington's polarizing nickname.
Despite the party's touted voter-mobilization efforts, Republicans are catching up in a key midterm battleground.
In the fourth edition of The Atlantic's Midterm Cheat Sheet, Jessica Jones discusses the contest between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis.
It's not that there's no drama. It's that there's not much chance of big changes in national policy, no matter what happens.
North Carolina's Kay Hagan hopes a clever operation can outweigh an awful national climate.
Republican Joni Ernst's unexpected breakout performance in the race for Senate in Iowa epitomizes this midterm election.
In the third installment of The Atlantic's Midterm Cheat Sheet, Daniel Malloy discusses the contest between David Perdue and Michelle Nunn.
In the second installment of The Atlantic's Midterm Cheat Sheet, Colorado political reporter Eli Stokols discusses the contest between Mark Udall and Cory Gardner.
There's a small but real chance a bloc of unaffiliated senators could form after the midterms and help moderate the chamber.
The Republicans want to overhaul scandal-plagued federal agencies in 2015, the majority leader says.
Voter-ID laws are part of a hoary American tradition holding that people who aren't economically independent can't make reasoned political choices.
The White House may just want to stay away from Bruce Braley's Senate bid until Election Day.
In the first installment of The Atlantic's Midterm Cheat Sheet, longtime Nola columnist James Varney discusses the contest between Mary Landrieu, Bill Cassidy, and Rob Maness.
The Democratic Senate hopeful in Georgia is ignoring the former president's pleas not to use his image in her ads.
Obama's campaign schedule is already light, and on Sunday some people actually left his event early.
One Texas judge says the new law could keep 600,000 mostly black and Latino voters from the polls.
Taking a page from Obama's 2012 playbook, candidates from Illinois to Georgia have found a winning message in a dismal political environment.
The GOP goes Willie Horton-style in Nebraska, while a gay candidate proudly cites his husband in Massachusetts.
Michigan Republican Rick Snyder finds himself in an unexpectedly tough reelection campaign thanks to a backlash against his economic policies.
Why are Democrats keeping it close in five key Senate races? Look at changing demographics.
His opponents have laughed at it for years, but at Wednesday's gubernatorial debate, the Florida pol's favorite accessory stole the show.
The Democrats' Senate contenders don't want anything to do with the president, but statehouse candidates are rolling out the welcome mat.
The Senate is slipping away, but Republicans haven't locked it up.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell aren't scientists, but that doesn't stop them from discrediting it.
We all know the drill: The GOP makes big gains on Capitol Hill, overreaches for two years, then loses the next presidential race.
Will voters care more about Mitch McConnell's Obamacare stumble or Alison Lundergan Grimes's presidential vote from 2012?
The contest was touted as an opportunity to gain a seat, but now the party seems to be giving up on its candidate.
Celebrity-studded ads are easy to mock, but there's evidence they can increase turnout—to a point.
As the national GOP took a tough line on borders, George W. Bush and Rick Perry cozied up to Hispanic voters. But those days are over.
If Americans really want independent-spirited leaders who disdain politics as usual, why is Colorado's governor fighting for his political life?
The Senate could have four members in 2015 who are neither Republicans nor Democrats, a historic and game-changing dynamic.