Midterm vs. presidential election: what is the difference?

Two words show up every cycle — presidential and midterm — and they describe elections two years apart that put very different things on the ballot. The simplest distinction: a presidential election includes the race for the White House; a midterm does not.

If you remember one thing: a presidential election happens every four years and puts the presidency on the ballot; a midterm happens every two years, at the midpoint of a president’s term, and decides Congress but not the president. Both include House, Senate, and many state and local races.

Presidential election

A presidential election is held every four years. Voters choose the President and Vice President, through the Electoral College, based on results in each state. The presidential race sits at the top of the ballot, but the same election also decides every House seat, about a third of the Senate, and a long list of state and local offices.

Midterm election

A midterm is held every two years, in the even-numbered year when there is no presidential race — the midpoint of a president’s term. Voters choose all 435 House seats, about a third of the Senate, and many governors, state legislators, and local officials. The presidency is simply not on the ballot.

The name “midterm” marks where the election falls in the four-year cycle. It is not a different kind of office — the same House and Senate seats are at stake; the White House is just absent.

Why midterms matter

Because they decide control of Congress, midterms can shift which party runs the House, the Senate, or both. That changes which party sets the legislative agenda for the president’s final two years. Many state offices are decided at the same time, so a midterm can reshape government well beyond Washington.

Turnout and attention

Turnout is generally higher in presidential years than in midterms, though midterm turnout has varied widely from cycle to cycle. The presence of a presidential contest and the national attention it draws tend to pull more people to the polls.

What’s on both ballots

Some offices appear on both:

• Every House seat is on the ballot every two years, including in presidential years.
• About a third of the Senate is on the ballot each cycle.
• Governors and state/local offices follow state-set schedules, which may or may not line up with the federal cycle.

The presidential race is the one that distinguishes the two.

Where to get official information

• Your state or local election office — the authority on exactly what is on your ballot in a given year. The EAC’s state lookup points to each office: eac.gov/vote.
• vote.gov — the official federal voting-information site, in place since 2016 and administered by the General Services Administration until the EAC assumed management of the site in 2025; the EAC now operates and hosts it — state-by-state paths.
• usa.gov/voting-and-elections — the federal front door that links to state and local election offices.
• The network’s Voting & Elections topic page collects these explainers, alongside Primary vs. General Election, How Midterm Elections Work, and Who Certifies U.S. Election Results?.

If what is on your ballot matters, the answer lives at your state or local election office — not in a general explainer.

The bottom line

A presidential election happens every four years and puts the presidency on the ballot; a midterm happens every two years and decides Congress but not the president. Both include House, Senate, and many state and local races, and both matter — but they sit at different points in the four-year cycle and put different stakes at the top of the ticket. To see exactly what is on your ballot, check with your state or local election office or at vote.gov.

Counsel is the law site of the Omni Mundi Compendium network. How federal agencies describe their own role in civic life is covered in What Is America.gov? The New Federal Front Door, Explained.

This article is general information about midterm and presidential elections in the U.S., not legal advice, and not official voting information. Which offices appear on a given ballot varies by state and can change. Confirm current details with your state or local election office or at vote.gov before relying on them. It is AI-written and independently AI-reviewed before publication; the review standard and this article’s findings are recorded in the network’s editorial review log.