[455]
On December 13, 2022, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and requires the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial marriages in the United States.[456]

2022 elections
Biden holding a rally at Bowie State University in Maryland for gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore, November 7, 2022
On September 2, 2022, in a nationally broadcast Philadelphia speech, Biden called for a "battle for the soul of the nation". Off camera, he called active Trump supporters "semi-fascists", which Republican commentators denounced.[457][458][459] A predicted Republican wave election did not materialize and the race for U.S. Congress control was much closer than expected, with Republicans securing a slim majority of 222 seats in the House of Representatives,[460][461][462][463] and Democrats keeping control of the U.S. Senate, with 51 seats, a gain of one seat from the last Congress.[464][n 3]
It was the first midterm election since 1986 in which the party of the incumbent president achieved a net gain in governorships, and the first since 1934 in which the president's party lost no state legislative chambers.