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.

---

Etymology

Origin of wave election

First recorded in 2010–15

Example Sentences

Conservatives have controlled the state’s Supreme Court since 2008, and Republicans have held a hammerlock on the Legislature since 2011, when the party drew itself an impenetrable majority after taking control in a wave election.

From New York Times

Mr. Brown beat back a Trump-inspired challenger in 2018, notching a 7-point win in what turned out to be a wave election for Democrats.

From Washington Times

Ms. Slotkin was re-elected twice in a toss-up district after she initially swept into the House by flipping a red district in 2018 during the Democrats’ blue wave election cycle.

From Washington Times

And a substantial part of what has been going on in the House seems to be that some Republicans who expected to own the libs after a red wave election have acted out their disappointment by owning Kevin McCarthy instead.

From Seattle Times

Coupled with the political factors already favoring Republicans — including inflation and President Biden’s unpopularity — the skewed polls helped feed what quickly became an inescapable political narrative: A Republican wave election was about to hit the country with hurricane force.

From New York Times