Why is the electoral cycle of America’s Congress so short?

No other developed democracy gives its legislators such little time

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 19: With the autumnal equinox happening on Thursday, the sun rises directly east over the U.S. Capitol dome as seen from the Washington Monument Monday morning, September 19, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Sep 20th 2022

In December 2021, less than a year after his inauguration, President Joe Biden told a meeting of Democratic National Committee officials: “We’re going to win in 2022.” Voters weary from the bruising presidential election may have inwardly groaned at the prospect of another campaign. But for Americans, biennial elections are the norm. Article I of the constitution mandates that members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate be “chosen every second Year.” Senators stay in office for six years, but members of the House get only two. America is the only developed democracy to require such short legislative terms. Why is Congress’s electoral cycle so short and how does that affect the country’s government?

This article appeared in the The Economist explains section of the print edition under the headline “Why is the electoral cycle of America’s Congress so short?”