1978 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1978 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 7, 1978, to elect members to serve in the 96th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term, amidst an energy crisis and rapid inflation. The Democratic Party lost a net of 15 seats to the Republican Party, and thus lost their two-thirds supermajority, but still maintained a large 277-seat majority.

1978 United States House of Representatives elections
November 7, 1978
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives
218 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Tip O'Neill John Rhodes
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 4, 1977 December 7, 1973
Leader's seat Massachusetts 8th Arizona 1st
Last election 292 seats 143 seats
Seats won 277 157
Seat change 15 14
Popular vote 30,317,777 24,464,665
Percentage 53.7% 44.8%
Swing 2.2% 2.5%
  Third party
 
Party Conservative
Last election 0 seats
Seats won 1
Seat change 1
Popular vote 74,531
Percentage 0.1%
Swing
Results:
     Democratic hold      Democratic gain
     Republican hold      Republican gain
     Conservative gain
Speaker before election

Tip O'Neill
Democratic

 Elected Speaker

Tip O'Neill
Democratic

As of 2024, this was the last midterm election where the Democrats managed to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives under a Democratic president and the last midterm election in which a registered third party member was elected.

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