Special Episode: Decoding US midterms jargon
BBC World Service's Global News Podcast and BBC's US politics show Americast have joined forces for a special episode breaking down the jargon swirling around the approaching US midterm elections. Washington DC correspondents Anthony Zurcher and Sumi Somaskanda, along with etymologist Martha Barnette, take listener questions from Japan, India, and around the world on terms like 'midterms,' 'gerrymandering,' and 'stump speech.'
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What this episode answers
What are the midterms, and why do they matter so much this time around?
The midterms are the federal congressional elections held at the halfway point of a four-year presidential term, in which all 435 House seats and roughly one-third of the Senate — about 34 seats this cycle — are up for grabs. Because Democrats winning even one chamber could block Trump's legislative agenda and put impeachment proceedings on the table, this election is considered an exceptionally tight race.
What does it mean to be an 'informed voter'?
Being an informed voter means carefully researching the candidates and measures you are voting on, covering not only federal lawmakers but also state and local representatives and ballot initiatives — with the extra step of checking how a candidate has actually acted on the issues you care about.
Where does the word 'gerrymandering' come from, and how does it work?
The word traces to 1812, when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a bill redrawing district boundaries to favor his own party; because one redrawn district resembled a salamander, the Boston Gazette published a satirical cartoon and combined Gerry's name with 'salamander' to coin the term. The two core tactics are packing (cramming opposition voters into a single district so they waste votes losing big there) and cracking (spreading the remaining opposition thinly across multiple districts so they are a minority everywhere).
What is a 'dummymander,' and how does gerrymandering backfire?
A dummymander occurs when district lines are drawn so finely — trying to create many districts with only slim majorities — that a broadly good night for the opposing party collapses those narrow margins all at once, erasing the expected gains. In a competitive electoral environment, locking in safe seats can be more rational than reaching for marginal ones.
What is the origin of the phrase 'stump speech'?
In the early 1800s American frontier there were no microphones or sound systems, so candidates would stand on tree stumps to address crowds across the vast open land — that literal practice became the direct origin of 'stump speech,' which today refers to the core pitch a candidate repeats throughout the campaign trail.
What Are the Midterms?
According to Anthony Zurcher, the midterms are the federal congressional elections held in the middle of a president's four-year term. While presidential elections occur every four years, congressional elections are held every two — placing one set squarely in the middle of each presidential term. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are contested, and roughly one-third of the Senate's 100 seats — about 34 this cycle — are also up for election. Governor's races in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona are drawing particular attention, because those governors will oversee the presidential election two years from now.
Sumi Somaskanda frames the election as a referendum on the president. Republicans currently control both chambers, but if Democrats flip even one, they could effectively freeze the Trump administration's legislative agenda, step up oversight hearings, and put impeachment on the table. The race is described as balanced on a knife's edge — and the outcome is far from irrelevant to the rest of the world.
What Does It Mean to Be an 'Informed Voter'?
The question came from Craig, an American living in Hiroshima. Sumi drew on a line from a student she met at Ohio State University: being informed means researching the candidates. But the scope of that research goes well beyond federal lawmakers — it extends to state and local representatives, judges, and ballot measures.
Anthony offered California's wealth tax proposition as a concrete example. On the same ballot as a measure to impose a wealth tax sat a separate measure to invalidate it and another to make it harder to implement. 'Sometimes the confusion is built in by design,' he noted. When Celia suggested that knowing grocery prices already makes someone an informed voter in a sense, Sumi agreed — but added that the extra step is checking how candidates have actually voted and acted on the issues that matter to you.
The Origin and Mechanics of Gerrymandering
Etymologist Martha Barnette tells the story. In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed legislation redrawing district boundaries in ways that advantaged his own party. One of the new districts had such a bizarre shape that opponents said it looked like a salamander. A cartoonist at the Boston Gazette added wings, claws, and a dragon's head to the outline and ran it with the caption 'The Gerry-Mander, a new species of monster.' The portmanteau stuck.
The mechanics come down to two techniques. **Packing** concentrates opposition voters into a single district, where they win by enormous margins but waste votes. **Cracking** disperses the remaining opposition voters thinly across multiple districts, making them a minority in each. Anthony, who grew up in Texas, described a grotesquely shaped district that stretched from Austin to near the Mexican border, where a house on one side of a road could fall in a different district than the house directly across the street.
The Backfire: What Is a Dummymander?
Anthony introduced the term 'dummymander' in connection with this cycle. When mapmakers draw lines too finely — engineering lots of districts with only slim majorities — they are exposed if the opposing party has a broadly strong night, because those narrow margins can all collapse at once, erasing the intended gains. Republicans redrew lines ahead of this election to maximize seat totals, but Anthony argues that in a competitive environment, shoring up safe seats is often smarter than reaching for thin ones.
Where Does 'Stump Speech' Come From?
The question was sent in by Satcharana from India, and Martha had the answer. In the early 1800s American frontier there were no microphones and no amplification of any kind. The wide-open landscape was scattered with felled trees, and candidates would climb up onto a stump to speak to assembled crowds. That literal act became the direct source of the phrase. Today 'stump speech' denotes the core argument a candidate delivers repeatedly throughout the campaign trail — the pitch that defines their run.
Takeaways
- The US midterms put all 435 House seats and roughly a third of the Senate up for election, and with Democrats needing just one chamber to block Trump's agenda, this cycle is one of the most closely watched in years.
- Gerrymandering — born from an 1812 Boston newspaper cartoon — uses packing and cracking to neutralize the opposing party, but overly fine line-drawing can backfire as a 'dummymander' when the political environment shifts.
- American political terms like 'stump speech' and 'gerrymandering' trace directly to 19th-century frontier realities, and knowing their origins sharpens understanding of how they are used today.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.