The
Democratic Party suffered massive defeats in many national and state level elections, with many seats switching to
Republican Party control. Although the President's party usually loses congressional, statewide and local seats in midterm elections, the 2010 midterm election season featured some of the biggest losses since the
Great Depression. The Republican Party gained 63 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, recapturing the majority, and making it the largest seat change since
1948 and the largest for any midterm election since the
1938 midterm elections. The Republicans gained six seats in the U.S. Senate, expanding its minority, and also gained 680 seats in state legislative races,
[4][5][6] to break the previous majority record of 628 set by Democrats in the post-
Watergate elections of
1974.
[6] This left Republicans in control of 26 state legislatures, compared to the 15 still controlled by Democrats. After the election, Republicans took control of 29 of the 50
State Governorships.