2006 United States House of Representatives elections

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All 435 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives[a] 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nancy Pelosi Dennis Hastert (resigned as leader) Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 2003 January 3, 1999 Leader's seat California 8th Illinois 14th Last election 202 seats, 46.8% 232 seats, 49.4% Seats before 201 229 Seats won 233 202 Seat change 31 30 Popular vote 42,338,795 35,857,334 Percentage 52.3% 44.3% Swing 5.5pp 5.1pp   Third party   Party Independent Last election 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 417,895 Percentage 0.5% Swing 0.1pp
Results:      Democratic hold     Democratic gain      Republican hold
Speaker before election Dennis Hastert Republican ElectedSpeaker Nancy Pelosi Democratic

The2006 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 7, 2006, to elect members to theUnited States House of Representatives. It took place in the middle ofPresidentGeorge W. Bush's second term in office. All 435 seats of the House were up for election. Those elected served in the110th United States Congress from January 3, 2007, until January 3, 2009. The incumbent majority party, the Republicans, had won majorities in the House consecutively since1994, and were defeated by the Democrats who won a majority in the chamber, ending 12 years of Republican control in the House.

TheRepublicans had won a 232-seat majority in 2004, but by the time of the 2006 election, they held 229 seats, while theDemocrats held 201, plus 1Independent (Bernie Sanders) who caucused with the Democrats. There were also four vacancies. Democrats needed to pick up 15 seats to take control of the House, which had been in Republican control since January 1995. Along with the historical "sixth-year itch" that has plagued many incumbent presidents in midterm elections, the public's perception ofGeorge W. Bush, the handling of theIraq War and theWar in Afghanistan, and a series of political scandals involving mostly congressional Republicans took their toll on the party at the ballot box.^[1]

The final result was a 31-seat pickup for the Democrats, including the pickup of the Vermont at-large seat, previously held by IndependentBernie Sanders (whoran instead for U.S. Senate), who caucused with the Democrats. Democrats defeated 22 Republican incumbents and won eight open Republican-held seats. For the first time since the party's founding, Republicans won no seats previously held by Democrats and defeated no Democratic incumbents.^[2] It was the largest seat gain for the Democrats since the1974 elections. Among the new Democrats were the first Muslim in Congress (Keith Ellison) and the first two Buddhists (Mazie Hirono andHank Johnson). As a result of the Democratic victory,Nancy Pelosi became the first female and the first CalifornianHouse Speaker.^[3]

As of 2025^[update], this is the only House election cycle where only one party flipped any seats, the last time Republicans won a House race in Connecticut or more than one House seat in New Mexico, and the last time Democrats won more than one House seat in Kansas.

Severalmembers of the House first elected in 2006 have gone on to receive national attention, includingGabby Giffords,Jim Jordan, andMichele Bachmann; United States senatorsKirsten Gillibrand,Dean Heller,Mazie Hirono, andChris Murphy; senator and ambassadorJoe Donnelly; former speakerKevin McCarthy; Minnesota Attorney GeneralKeith Ellison; and governor and vice-presidential candidateTim Walz.

Summary of the November 7, 2006,United States House of Representativeselection results

Party		Seats				Popular vote
		2004	2006	Net change	%	Vote	%	+/−
	Democratic Party	202	233	31	53.6%	42,338,795	52.3%	+5.5%
	Republican Party	232	202	30	46.4%	35,857,334	44.3%	−5.1%
	Libertarian Party	−	−	−	−	656,764	0.8%	−0.1%
	Independent	1	0	1	-	417,895	0.5%	−0.1%
	Green Party	−	−	−	−	243,391	0.3%	-
	Constitution Party	−	−	−	−	91,133	0.1%	−0.1%
	Independence Party	−	−	−	−	85,815	0.1%	-
	Reform Party	−	−	−	−	53,862	0.1%	−
	Other parties	−	−	−	−	1,230,548	1.5%	−0.1%
Totals		435	435	−	100.0%	80,975,537	100.0%	−
Voter turnout: 36.8%
Sources:Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Source:CNN exit poll^[4]

• 
  Results shaded by winners' share of vote
• 
  Popular vote by states
• 
  Summary of party changes

    3–5 Democratic seat pickup

    1–2 Democratic seat pickup
• 
  Winning margins in all House races

27 incumbents did not seek re-election. The four vacancies wereNew Jersey's 13th congressional district, to be filled at the same time as the general election with the winner taking office in November immediately after the votes were certified;Texas's 22nd congressional district, with a separate special election on the same day; andOhio's 18th congressional district andFlorida's 16th congressional district, which did not have special elections to fill the vacancies before January 2007.New Jersey's 13th congressional district had been held by DemocratBob Menendez,Texas's 22nd congressional district had been held by RepublicanTom DeLay,Ohio's 18th congressional district had been held by RepublicanRobert Ney, andFlorida's 16th congressional district had been held by RepublicanMark Foley. Democrats won all four races.

Nine Democrats retired, all of whom were replaced by Democrats.

1. Florida's 11th congressional district:Jim Davis
2. Hawaii's 2nd congressional district:Ed Case
3. Illinois's 17th congressional district:Lane Evans
4. Maryland's 3rd congressional district:Ben Cardin
5. Minnesota's 5th congressional district:Martin Olav Sabo
6. New York's 11th congressional district:Major Owens
7. Ohio's 6th congressional district:Ted Strickland
8. Ohio's 13th congressional district:Sherrod Brown
9. Tennessee's 9th congressional district:Harold Ford Jr.

Seventeen Republicans retired, twelve of whom were replaced by Republicans and five replaced by Democrats.

1. Arizona's 8th congressional district:Jim Kolbe
2. California's 22nd congressional district:Bill Thomas
3. Colorado's 5th congressional district:Joel Hefley
4. Colorado's 7th congressional district:Bob Beauprez
5. Florida's 9th congressional district:Michael Bilirakis
6. Florida's 13th congressional district:Katherine Harris
7. Idaho's 1st congressional district:Butch Otter
8. Illinois's 6th congressional district:Henry Hyde
9. Iowa's 1st congressional district:Jim Nussle
10. Minnesota's 6th congressional district:Mark Kennedy
11. Nebraska's 3rd congressional district:Tom Osborne
12. Nevada's 2nd congressional district:Jim Gibbons
13. New York's 24th congressional district:Sherwood Boehlert
14. Ohio's 4th congressional district:Mike Oxley
15. Oklahoma's 5th congressional district:Ernest Istook
16. Tennessee's 1st congressional district:Bill Jenkins
17. Wisconsin's 8th congressional district:Mark Andrew Green

One independent who caucused with the Democrats retired, and was replaced by a Democrat.

1. Vermont's at-large:Bernie Sanders

Two incumbents were defeated in their party's respective primaries, which their respective parties held in the general election.

1. ▌Georgia's 4th congressional district:Cynthia McKinney (D)
2. ▌Michigan's 7th congressional district:Joe Schwarz (R)

22 Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats.

1. Arizona's 5th congressional districtJ. D. Hayworth
2. California's 11th congressional districtRichard Pombo
3. Connecticut's 2nd congressional districtRob Simmons
4. Connecticut's 5th congressional districtNancy Johnson
5. Florida's 22nd congressional districtE. Clay Shaw
6. Indiana's 2nd congressional districtChris Chocola
7. Indiana's 8th congressional districtJohn Hostettler
8. Indiana's 9th congressional districtMike Sodrel
9. Iowa's 2nd congressional districtJim Leach
10. Kansas's 2nd congressional districtJim Ryun
11. Kentucky's 3rd congressional districtAnne Northup
12. Minnesota's 1st congressional districtGil Gutknecht^[5]
13. New Hampshire's 1st congressional districtJeb Bradley
14. New Hampshire's 2nd congressional districtCharles Bass
15. New York's 19th congressional districtSue Kelly
16. New York's 20th congressional districtJohn E. Sweeney^[6]
17. North Carolina's 11th congressional districtCharles H. Taylor^[7]
18. Pennsylvania's 4th congressional districtMelissa Hart
19. Pennsylvania's 7th congressional districtCurt Weldon^[8]
20. Pennsylvania's 8th congressional districtMike Fitzpatrick
21. Pennsylvania's 10th congressional districtDon Sherwood
22. Texas's 23rd congressional districtHenry Bonilla

Five Republicans who retired were replaced by Democrats.

1. Arizona's 8th congressional district:Jim Kolbe was replaced byGabby Giffords.
2. Colorado's 7th congressional district:Bob Beauprez was replaced byEd Perlmutter.
3. Iowa's 1st congressional district:Jim Nussle was replaced byBruce Braley.
4. New York's 24th congressional district:Sherwood Boehlert was replaced byMike Arcuri.
5. Wisconsin's 8th congressional district:Mark Andrew Green was replaced bySteve Kagan.

One independent who caucused with the Democrats retired, and was replaced by a Democrat.

1. Vermont's at-large:Bernie Sanders was replaced byPeter Welch.

Sixty races were decided by 10% or lower.^[9]

There were two special elections in 2006 to the109th United States Congress, listed here by date and district.

Georgia's delegation was redistricted in 2005.^{[citation needed]}