1982 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1982 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives held on November 2, 1982, to elect members to serve in the 98th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's first term, whose popularity was sinking due to economic conditions under the 1982 recession. The President's Republican Party lost seats in the House, which could be viewed as a response to the President's approval at the time. Unlike most midterm election cycles, the number of seats lost—26 seats to the Democratic Party—was a comparatively large swap. It included most of the seats that had been gained the previous election, cementing the Democratic majority. Coincidentally, the number of seats the Democrats picked up (26), was the exact amount the Republicans would have needed to win the House majority. It was the first election held after the 1980 United States redistricting cycle.

1982 United States House of Representatives elections

November 2, 1982

All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives
218 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Tip O'Neill Bob Michel
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 4, 1977 January 3, 1981
Leader's seat Massachusetts 8th Illinois 18th
Last election 243 seats 191 seats
Seats won 269 165
Seat change 26 26
Popular vote 35,284,473 27,625,593
Percentage 55.2% 43.4%
Swing 4.7% 4.4%

  Third party
 
Party Conservative
Last election 1
Seats won 1
Seat change
Popular vote 140,404
Percentage 0.2%
Swing 0.1%

Results:
     Democratic hold      Democratic gain
     Republican hold      Republican gain
     Conservative hold

Speaker before election

Tip O'Neill
Democratic

Elected Speaker

Tip O'Neill
Democratic

In the previous election of 1980 Republicans gained many seats as the result of President Ronald Reagan's coattails. In 1982, 14 freshman representatives who ran for re-election lost their seats.

To date, this election marks the last time the Democrats picked up a House seat in West Virginia. It was also the last time the party holding the White House won independent voters in a congressional midterm election until 2022.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.