1996 United States House of Representatives elections

1996 United States House of Representatives elections

November 5, 1996

All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives
218 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Newt Gingrich Dick Gephardt
Party Republican Democratic
Leader since January 3, 1995 January 3, 1995
Leader's seat Georgia 6th Missouri 3rd
Last election 230 seats 204 seats
Seats won 226 207
Seat change 4 3
Popular vote 43,447,962 43,507,586
Percentage 48.15% 48.22%
Swing 3.7pp 3.4pp

  Third party
 
Party Independent
Last election 1 seat
Seats won 2
Seat change 1
Popular vote 572,746
Percentage 0.6%

Results:
     Democratic hold      Democratic gain
     Republican hold      Republican gain
     Independent hold      Independent gain

Speaker before election

Newt Gingrich
Republican

Elected Speaker

Newt Gingrich
Republican

The 1996 United States House of Representatives elections were held for the United States House of Representatives on November 5, 1996, to elect members to serve in the 105th United States Congress. They coincided with the re-election of President Bill Clinton. Democrats won the popular vote by almost 60,000 votes (0.07%) and gained a net of two seats from the Republicans, but the Republicans retained an overall majority of seats in the House for the first time since 1928.

Although the Republicans lost three seats, one of them included an independent who would caucus with them and switch to the Republicans, resulting in a nine-seat Republican majority. A total of 12 freshman Republicans who were elected in the 1994 Republican Revolution were defeated in the election, while at least 36 were re-elected.

The election was the fourth and final time in the 20th century in which either party won the House majority without winning the popular vote, with the previous three instances occurring in 1914, 1942, and 1952. In terms of the total vote, the 1996 result remains one of the closest in U.S. history. This remains the last election in which Republicans won a majority of seats in the New Jersey delegation, and it was also the first election since 1872 in which Republicans won a majority of seats in Mississippi's delegation.