The 2014 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, in the middle of Democratic President Barack Obama's second term. Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives and won control of the Senate. Republicans won a net gain of nine Senate seats, the largest Senate gain for either party since the 1980 United States elections. In the House, Republicans won a net gain of thirteen seats, giving them their largest majority since the 1928 elections. In state elections, Republicans won a net gain of two gubernatorial seats and flipped control of ten legislative chambers. Various other state, territorial, and local elections and referendums were held throughout the year. The election was commonly cited as a "Red wave" election. With total spending reaching $3.7 billion, the midterm election, at the time, was the most expensive in history, being surpassed by the 2018 midterm election four years later. The 2014 election also saw the lowest turnout since 1942, with just 36.4% of eligible voters voting. Coupled with the 2010 midterms earlier in the Obama administration, this election marked the first time since the Reagan Administration that a two-term president's party suffered net losses in both houses of Congress in both midterm elections. Issues Major issues of the election included income inequality, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as "Obamacare"), which Republicans sought to repeal. Democrats promoted their proposal to increase the minimum wage. In the weeks prior to the 2014 election, Republicans harshly criticized the Obama administration for its handling of the 2013-2016 ebola virus outbreak in Western Africa . However, immediately after the election, Republicans dropped Ebola as an issue. 2016 and 2020 studies found that Republican rhetoric on Ebola may have helped Republican candidates in the 2014 election. Although it generated much debate in early 2014, the Keystone Pipeline ultimately received little attention in the election, with environmentalists instead focused on fighting global warming and supporting the EPA's proposed regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. Another potentially important issue, net neutrality, received little attention during the campaign. National exit polling showed that 45% of voters said the economy was their most important issue. This was a decline from 2010 and 2008 (when 59% of voters and 63% of voters, respectively, named it as their top issue), but was still the most common issue cited by voters as most important to them. Smaller numbers