292 seats 143 seats 15 15 53.7% 44.8% Start date November 7, 1978 | 277 158 29,317,222 24,464,665 2.2% 2.5% | |
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Winner Tip O'Neill | ||
The 1978 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1978 which occurred in the middle of President Jimmy Carter's term, when the country was going through an energy crisis and facing rapid inflation. The President's Democratic Party lost seats to the opposition Republican Party, in this case a net of 15 meaning the loss of their two-thirds majority but the Democrats still retained a rather large majority. As of 2017, this was the last midterm election where the Democrats managed to maintain a majority under a Democratic president.
Contents
Notable freshmen included future Vice President Dick Cheney (R-Wy.), future Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), future Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), future U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Me.), and future vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro (D-N.Y.).
Future president George W. Bush was the Republican nominee for a seat in Texas, but lost.
Overall results
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
November elections
Key to party abbreviations: AI=American Independent, D=Democrat, PF=Peace and Freedom, R=Republican.