1996 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1996 United States House of Representatives elections was an election 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 3 seats, 1 of them included an independent who would caucus with them and switch to the Republicans. This resulted in a 227 Republican majority to the Democrats' 208 minority which also included an Independent caucusing with them. 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 second time in the 20th century, after the 1952 elections, in which Republicans won a House majority without winning a majority of votes, a situation that occurred again in 2012, though in terms of the total vote this 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 was also the first election since Reconstruction in which Republicans won a majority of seats in Mississippi's delegation.

Results summary


Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

Retiring incumbents
50 incumbents retired: 29 Democrats and 21 Republicans, giving the Republicans a net gain of 6 seats from the Democrats.

Democratic hold

 * 1) AR's 1st congressional district: Blanche Lincoln
 * 2) AR's 2nd congressional district: Ray Thornton
 * 3) CA's 24th congressional district: Anthony Beilenson
 * 4) CO's 1st congressional district: Pat Schroeder
 * 5) FL's 2nd congressional district: Pete Peterson
 * 6) FL's 11th congressional district: Sam Gibbons
 * 7) FL's 19th congressional district: Harry Johnston
 * 8) IL's 7th congressional district: Cardiss Collins
 * 9) IN's 10th congressional district: Andrew Jacobs Jr.
 * 10) MA's 10th congressional district: Gerry Studds
 * 11) NJ's 9th congressional district: Robert Torricelli, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 12) NC's 7th congressional district: Charlie Rose
 * 13) RI's 2nd congressional district: Jack Reed, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 14) TN's 9th congressional district: Harold Ford Sr.
 * 15) TX's 1st congressional district: Jim Chapman, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 16) TX's 2nd congressional district: Charlie Wilson
 * 17) TX's 15th congressional district: Kika de la Garza
 * 18) TX's 16th congressional district: Ronald D. Coleman
 * 19) VA's 5th congressional district: Lewis F. Payne Jr.

Republican gain

 * 1) AL's 3rd congressional district: Glen Browder, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 2) AL's 4th congressional district: Tom Bevill
 * 3) IL's 20th congressional district: Dick Durbin, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 4) LA's 5th congressional district: Cleo Fields
 * 5) MS's 3rd congressional district: Sonny Montgomery
 * 6) MT's at-large congressional district: Pat Williams
 * 7) OK's 3rd congressional district: William K. Brewster
 * 8) SD's at-large congressional district: Tim Johnson, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 9) TX's 5th congressional district: John Bryant, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 10) TX's 12th congressional district: Pete Geren

Republican hold

 * 1) AR's 3rd congressional district: Tim Hutchinson, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 2) CA's 27th congressional district: Carlos Moorhead
 * 3) CO's 4th congressional district: Wayne Allard, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 4) IN's 7th congressional district: John Myers
 * 5) KS's 1st congressional district: Pat Roberts, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 6) KS's 2nd congressional district: Sam Brownback, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 7) KS's 3rd congressional district: Jan Meyers
 * 8) MO's 7th congressional district: Mel Hancock
 * 9) NV's 2nd congressional district: Barbara Vucanovich
 * 10) NH's 1st congressional district: Bill Zeliff, to run for Governor
 * 11) NJ's 12th congressional district: Dick Zimmer, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 12) OR's 2nd congressional district: Wes Cooley
 * 13) PA's 5th congressional district: Bill Clinger
 * 14) PA's 16th congressional district: Robert Smith Walker
 * 15) TN's 1st congressional district: Jimmy Quillen
 * 16) TX's 8th congressional district: Jack Fields
 * 17) UT's 2nd congressional district: Enid Greene

Democratic gain

 * 1) IA's 3rd congressional district: Jim Ross Lightfoot, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 2) LA's 7th congressional district: Jimmy Hayes, to run for U.S. Senator
 * 3) WI's 3rd congressional district: Steve Gunderson
 * 4) WI's 8th congressional district: Toby Roth

Democrats

 * 1) MI's 15th congressional district: Barbara-Rose Collins lost to Carolyn Kilpatrick, who later won the general election

Republicans

 * 1) TX's 14th congressional district: Greg Laughlin lost to Ron Paul, who later won the general election

In the general elections
21 seats switched parties in the November elections, giving the Democrats a net gain of 15 seats from the Republicans.

Democrats who lost to Republicans

 * 1) KY's 3rd congressional district: Mike Ward lost to Anne Northup
 * 2) MO's 9th congressional district: Harold Volkmer lost to Kenny Hulshof
 * 3) UT's 3rd congressional district: Bill Orton lost to Chris Cannon

Republicans who lost to Democrats

 * 1) CA's 10th congressional district: William P. Baker lost to Ellen Tauscher
 * 2) CA's 22nd congressional district: Andrea Seastrand lost to Walter Capps
 * 3) CA's 46th congressional district: Bob Dornan lost to Loretta Sanchez
 * 4) CT's 5th congressional district: Gary Franks lost to James H. Maloney
 * 5) IL's 5th congressional district: Michael Patrick Flanagan lost to Rod Blagojevich
 * 6) ME's 1st congressional district: James B. Longley Jr. lost to Tom Allen
 * 7) MA's 3rd congressional district: Peter I. Blute lost to Jim McGovern
 * 8) MA's 6th congressional district: Peter G. Torkildsen lost to John F. Tierney
 * 9) MI's 8th congressional district: Dick Chrysler lost to Debbie Stabenow
 * 10) NJ's 8th congressional district: William J. Martini lost to Bill Pascrell
 * 11) NY's 4th congressional district: Dan Frisa lost to Carolyn McCarthy
 * 12) NC's 2nd congressional district: David Funderburk lost to Bob Etheridge
 * 13) NC's 4th congressional district: Fred Heineman lost to David Price in a rematch of the 1994 election.
 * 14) OH's 6th congressional district: Frank Cremeans lost to Ted Strickland
 * 15) OH's 10th congressional district: Martin Hoke lost to Dennis Kucinich
 * 16) OR's 5th congressional district: Jim Bunn lost to Darlene Hooley
 * 17) TX's 9th congressional district: Steve Stockman lost to Nick Lampson
 * 18) WA's 9th congressional district: Randy Tate lost to Adam Smith

Mississippi
With Republican Chip Pickering flipping the Democratic-held 3rd district, the Republican Party gained a majority in the state's U.S. House delegation for the first time since Reconstruction. This would not occur again until 2010.

Missouri

 * Jo Ann Emerson was elected as a Republican in a special to serve the remaining months of the term and was elected as an Independent caucusing with Republicans due to Missouri state law. She later switched to the Republican Party a few days after the start of the new Congress.

Washington
, these were the last elections in which the Republican Party won a majority of congressional districts from Washington.