off-year election

noun

1. (in the US) an election held in a year when a presidential election does not take place

Example Sentences

It’s an off-year election, which means turnout is likely to be low and the electorate is unpredictable.

From Los Angeles Times

Explaining the esoteric concept of redistricting and getting voters to participate in an off-year election will require that Newsom and his allies, including organized labor, launch what is expected to be an expensive campaign very quickly.

From Los Angeles Times

The lack of participation, experts said, can be attributed to many factors: it was an off-year election; the balloting process was new and extremely convoluted; the vast majority of more than 7,000 contenders for 881 federal judge positions — and for another 1,800 state jurist posts — were unknown.

From Los Angeles Times

Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, last Thursday posted on X: “With all the political news this week” — bad polls for Biden, boffo off-year election results for his party, new developments in Donald Trump’s legal morass and another Trump-less Republican presidential debate — “what’s happening in the House may be the most under the radar AND have the most consequences.”

From Los Angeles Times

In the Biden campaign’s view, the off-year election results are more analogous than current polling to the resources, investment and direct communication with voters that will go into the elections next year.

From Seattle Times