Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "1968 United States House of Representatives elections" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1968 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1966 November 5, 1968 1970 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader John McCormack Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 10, 1962 January 3, 1965 Leader's seat Massachusetts 9th Michigan 5th Last election 248 seats 187 seats Seats won 243 192 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 33,214,994 32,059,047 Percentage 50.2% 48.5% Swing 0.7% 0.3%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain
Speaker before election John McCormack Democratic Elected Speaker John McCormack Democratic

The 1968 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives on November 5, 1968, to elect members to serve in the 91st United States Congress. They coincided with Richard M. Nixon's election as president. Nixon's narrow victory yielded only limited gains for his Republican Party, which picked up a net of five seats from the Democratic Party. The Democrats retained a majority in the House.

The election coincided with the presidential campaign of George Wallace of the American Independent Party, who unsuccessfully attempted to deny a majority in the Electoral College to any of his opponents. Had Wallace succeeded he would have given the House the choice of president from among the three, for the first time since 1825. As a result of this election, Democrats formed a majority of 26 state House delegations, with Republicans forming a majority in 19 and the other five delegations being evenly split (each state's House delegation receives one vote in such an election). However, the Democrats' nominal majority of state delegations includes those of the Southern United States who were more inclined to support Wallace as opposed to Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey. Wallace believed the Southern representatives would be able to use the clout his campaign was trying to give them to force an end to federal desegregation efforts in the South.

Overall results

409 incumbent members sought reelection, but 4 were defeated in primaries and 9 defeated in the general election for a total of 396 incumbents winning.

Summary of the November 5, 1968 election results

Parties		Seats				Popular Vote
		1966	1968	Change	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Democratic Party	248	243	5	55.9%	33,214,994	50.2%	0.7%
	Republican Party	187	192	5	44.1%	32,059,047	48.5%	0.3%
	Conservative Party					256,498	0.4%
	American Independent Party					171,422	0.3%	0.3%
	Liberal Party					85,462	0.1%
	National Democratic Party					83,818	0.1%	0.1%
	Independent					75,515	0.1%	0.1%
	Constitution Party					58,209	0.1%	0.1%
	Peace and Freedom Party					57,468	0.1%	0.1%
	Voice of Independence Party					9,399	<0.1%
	No Additional Taxes Party					8,493	<0.1%
	Socialist Labor Party					7,126	<0.1%
	New Party					4,534	<0.1%
	Socialist Workers Party					3,127	<0.1%
	De-escalators Party					2,798	<0.1%
	Common Sense Party					2,749	<0.1%
	American Anti-Communist Party					1,721	<0.1%
	Independent's Choice Party					1,314	<0.1%
	Abolish Port Authority Party					1,072	<0.1%
	New Politics Party					795	<0.1%
	Primary Party					572	<0.1%
	Prohibition Party					351	<0.1%
	Others					2,725	<0.1%	0.1%
Total		435	435	——	100.0%	66,109,209	100.0%	——
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Special elections

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas