1988 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1986 November 8, 1988 1990 →
All 435 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Jim Wright Bob Michel Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 1987 January 3, 1981 Leader's seat Texas 12th Illinois 18th Last election 258 seats 177 seats Seats won 260 175 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 43,544,565 37,209,219 Percentage 53.3% 45.6% Swing 1.0pp 1.2pp
Results:      Democratic hold     Democratic gain      Republican hold     Republican gain
Speaker before election Jim Wright Democratic ElectedSpeaker Jim Wright Democratic

The1988 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for theUnited States House of Representatives on November 8, 1988, to elect members to serve in the101st United States Congress. They coincided with the election ofGeorge H. W. Bush as president. Although Bush won with a strong majority, hisRepublican Party lost a net of two seats to theDemocratic Party, slightly increasing the Democratic majority in the House. It was the first time since1960 that an incoming president's party lost seats in the House.

409 incumbent members sought reelection, but one was defeated in a primary and six were defeated in the general election for a total of 402 incumbents winning. This was the highest number and percentage of incumbents who won reelection between 1954 and 1992.^[1]

The Republicans did not field a candidate in one-fourth of the seats in theSouthern United States.^[2] This is the last congressional election in which Republicans won a House seat inHawaii for a full term and the last time they won a seat inVermont.

Party		Seats			Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
		Last election (1986)	This election	Net change
	Democratic Party	258	260	2	59.8%	53.3%	43,544,565
	Republican Party	177	175	2	40.2%	45.6%	37,209,219
	Libertarian Party	0	0		0.0%	0.6%	445,708
	Independent	0	0		0.0%	0.2%	161,381
	Peace and Freedom Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	89,494
	Right to Life Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	52,296
	Conservative Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	47,577
	Others	0	0		0.0%	0.2%	131,945
Totals		435	435		100.0%	100.0%	81,682,185

Source:Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

1. Florida 6:Buddy MacKay retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
2. Florida 14:Dan Mica retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
3. Illinois 22:Kenneth J. Gray retired.
4. Massachusetts 2:Edward Boland retired.
5. Mississippi 4:Wayne Dowdy retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
6. New Jersey 10:Peter W. Rodino retired.
7. New York 23:Samuel S. Stratton retired.
8. Tennessee 8:Ed Jones retired.
9. Washington 3:Don Bonker retiredrun for U.S. Senate.
10. Washington 7:Mike Lowry retiredrun for U.S. Senate.

1. California 40:Robert Badham retired.
2. California 42:Dan Lungren retired to become California State Treasurer.
3. Florida 13:Connie Mack III retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
4. Mississippi 5:Trent Lott retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
5. Missouri 7:Gene Taylor retired.
6. Nebraska 2:Hal Daub retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
7. New Hampshire 2:Judd Gregg retiredto run for governor of New Hampshire.
8. New Mexico 1:Manuel Lujan Jr. retired.
9. New York 27:George C. Wortley retired.
10. New Hampshire 2:Judd Gregg retiredto run for U.S. President.
11. Ohio 5:Del Latta retired.
12. Texas 13:Beau Boulter retiredto run for U.S. Senate.
13. Vermont at-large:Jim Jeffords retiredto run for U.S. Senate.

1. Tennessee 5:Bill Boner resigned October 5, 1987, to becomeMayor of Nashville.
2. Virginia 5:Dan Daniel Incumbent died January 24, 1988.
3. New Jersey 5:James J. Howard died March 25, 1988.

1. Louisiana 5:Buddy Roemer resigned March 3, 1988, to becomeGovernor of Louisiana.
2. Tennessee 2:John Duncan Sr. died June 21, 1988.

1. California 12:Ernie Konnyu lost renomination toTom Campbell, who won the general election.

Two Democrats lost re-election to Republicans

1. Florida 4:Bill Chappell lost re-election toCraig James.
2. Rhode Island 2:Fernand St Germain lost re-election toRonald Machtley.

4 Republicans lost re-election to Democrats

1. Georgia 4:Pat Swindall lost re-election toCraig James.
2. Illinois 4:Jack Davis lost re-election toGeorge E. Sangmeister.
3. New York 20:Joe DioGuardi lost re-election toNita Lowey.
4. Texas 14:Mac Sweeney lost re-election toGreg Laughlin.

Two Republican seats were won by Democrats:

1. Nebraska 2: won byPeter Hoagland.
2. Texas 13: won byBill Sarpalius.

One Democratic seat was won by a Republican:

1. Florida 6: won byCliff Stearns.

Ordered by election date, then by state/district.

Source:"N 1988 General Electionovember 8, 1988".Secretary of State of Georgia. Archived fromthe original on March 18, 2012. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2011.