1. a) What is the significance of the Republicans winning seats in the Senate in the 2018 midterms?
b) List the previous three times this occurred in the last 100 years.
CHALLENGE: Name the president and party in these three elections.

2. a) How does the president’s party generally do in midterm elections?
b) How many House seats did the Republicans lose in this midterm?

3. a) How does President Trump see the election?
b) The media has been predicting a “blue wave” for months. ABC News explains: “The notion of a ‘blue wave’ refers to a theorized Democratic sweep during the upcoming midterm elections, specifically the idea that the party could win back control of both the House of Representatives and Senate.”
Why do you think a “blue wave” did not occur?

4. How do Republican losses in the House during President Trump’s midterm compare with midterm losses for Presidents Clinton and Obama?

5. Democrats won control of the House, which was expected in a midterm election. Republicans won more seats in the Senate, which was not expected until fairly recently. Do you think this is a positive or negative for each party? Explain your answers.

6. Major media news coverage of President Trump and Republican candidates has overall been much more negative than positive, whereas media coverage of Democratic candidates has been much more even-handed (and in the case of Democratic senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke’s - 100% positive media coverage - as he ran against, but ultimately lost to, incumbent Republican Ted Cruz).
What effect, if any, do you think biased media reporting had on the voters?