As midterms rapidly approach, Cheddar News breaks down why swing states are so important, especially in this year's midterm elections.

Good2Know: What You Need to Know About Swing States as Midterms Loom

it's time for good to know. Your daily dose of knowledge nuggets about today's top stories. And with midterms, just days away, we hear more and more about a few critical states in Georgia. The Nevada pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin. But why does so much of the election coverage center around a few states? So today we're gonna tell you what you need to know about swing states. Swing states come up most frequently in presidential election years since winning out of a fraction of a percent in one or two critical states can meet a landslide in the mostly winner take all Electoral College. But in a midterm election like this one, swing states all come down to the control of the Senate. Now the Senate right now sits at a 50 50 split and democrats only hold the majority because Vice president Kamala Harris breaks ties in the upper chamber so which states fall into the swing state category? The list has changed over time with states like florida and Ohio moving up from the toss up category to the likely republican category today and states also moving to swing state territory with states like Georgia, Nevada and Arizona going purple in recent years. The biggest swing states around this time are around three president biden narrowly won in 2020 and those are pennsylvania Georgia and Nevada with Arizona and Wisconsin in the conversation. Also Democrats likely are going to hold about 47 seats and the GOP looks likely to keep 48. So the swing state tossups will make all the difference in Democrats quest for 50 senators and the Republicans push for 51. With the GOP House of Representatives looking more likely controlled, the Senate could make a major difference. The upper chamber has unique responsibilities from control over executive and judicial appointments to approval over power over treaties. Now, every vote matters so for those who live in swing states, whose voters mirror the Senate's 50 50 split, every vote could matter, but just a little bit more.