2010 United States elections

2010 United States elections

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Election day	November 2
Incumbent president	Barack Obama (Democratic)
Next Congress	112th
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	38 of 100 seats (34 seats of Class III + 5 special elections)[1]
Net seat change	Republican +6
2010 Senate election results map      Republican gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold
House elections
Overall control	Republican gain
Seats contested	All 435 voting seats
Popular vote margin	Republican +6.8%
Net seat change	Republican +63
2010 House election results map      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Democratic gain      Republican gain
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	39 (37 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change	Republican +6
2010 gubernatorial election results map      Democratic gain      Republican gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Independent gain

The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's first term. Republicans ended unified Democratic control of Congress and the presidency by winning a majority in the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate despite Democrats holding Senate control.

Republicans gained seven seats in the Senate (including a special election held in January 2010) but failed to gain a majority in the chamber. In the House of Representatives, Republicans won a net gain of 63 seats, the largest shift in seats since the 1948 elections. In state elections, Republicans won a net gain of six gubernatorial seats and flipped control of twenty state legislative chambers, giving them a substantial advantage in the redistricting that occurred following the 2010 United States census. The election was widely characterized as a "Republican wave" election.

The heavy Democratic losses in 2010 were mainly attributed to the passing of the Affordable Care Act along with a poor economic recovery from the Great Recession and large budget deficits. This marked the first election since 1858 that yielded a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate. This configuration was also in place for most of the 107th Congress, but on account of Senator Jim Jeffords' party switch rather than the election results.