wave election

American  

[weyv i-lek-shuhn] / ˈweɪv ɪˌlɛk ʃən /

noun

Politics.

1. an election in which one party makes significant gains in Congress, at the state level, or in a parliament.

   a wave election that saw Republicans win control of the House and flip seven Senate seats.

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Etymology

Origin of wave election

First recorded in 2010–15

Example Sentences

“In a narrow election the postmortem is a bunch of woulda, shoulda, coulda. In a wave election, the postmortem is a bunch of ’welp,’” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2022

None of that surprises Simon Rosenberg, the founder of New Democrat Network who helped propel Democratic candidates in the wave election of 2018.

From New York Times • Aug. 24, 2022

Mr. Cox, of Fresno, defeated incumbent Republican David Valadao in California’s 21st congressional district as a part of the Democratic wave election in the 2018 midterms.

From Washington Times • Aug. 16, 2022

In the 2018 wave election when Democrats took back the House of Representatives, Smith's Democratic challenger, Joshua Welle, managed to break 43 percent, drawing 127,000 votes.

From Salon • Jul. 12, 2022

There is simply no agreed upon definition of what, exactly, constitutes a wave election in the first place.

From Slate • Nov. 7, 2018