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1948 United States House of Representatives elections

House elections for the 81st U.S. Congress

1948 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1946 November 2, 1948[1] 1950 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Sam Rayburn Joseph Martin Party Democratic Republican Leader since September 16, 1940 January 3, 1939 Leader's seat Texas 4th Massachusetts 14th Last election 188 seats 246 seats Seats won 263 171 Seat change 75 75 Popular vote 24,217,516 20,894,960 Percentage 52.6% 45.4% Swing 7.6% 8.1%   Third party   Party American Labor Last election 1 seat Seats won 1 Seat change Popular vote 409,789 Percentage 0.9% Swing 0.3%
Speaker before election Joseph Martin Republican Elected Speaker Sam Rayburn Democratic

The 1948 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 81st United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 2, 1948, while Maine held theirs on September 13. These elections coincided with President Harry S. Truman's election to a full term. Truman had campaigned against a "do-nothing"' Republican Party Congress that had opposed his initiatives and was seen as counterproductive. The Democratic Party regained control of both the House and Senate in this election.^[2][3][4] For Democrats, this was their largest gain since 1932. These were the last elections until 1980 when a member of a political party other than the Democrats, Republicans, or an independent had one or more seats in the chamber. As of 2023^[update], this is the last time the Democrats gained more than 50 seats in a U.S. House election.

Overall results[edit]

Party		Total seats	Change	Seat percentage	Vote percentage[5]	Popular vote
	Democratic Party	263	75	60.5%	52.6%	24,217,516
	Republican Party	171	75	39.3%	45.4%	20,894,960
	American Labor Party	1		0.2%	0.9%	409,789
	Progressive Party	0		0.0%	0.8%	362,514
	Prohibition Party	0		0.0%	0.1%	32,648
	Independent	0		0.0%	0.1%	29,419
	Liberal Party	0		0.0%	0.1%	27,394
	Socialist Party	0		0.0%	<0.1%	20,473
	Socialist Workers Party	0		0.0%	<0.1%	2,496
	Communist Party	0		0.0%	<0.1%	775
	Socialist Labor Party	0		0.0%	<0.1%	48
	Others	0		0.0%	<0.1%	12,593
Totals		435		100.0%	100.0%	46,010,625

Special elections[edit]

Sorted by election date, then by district.

Alabama[edit]

Arizona[edit]

Arkansas[edit]

California[edit]

Colorado[edit]

Connecticut[edit]

Delaware[edit]

Florida[edit]

Georgia[edit]

Idaho[edit]

Illinois[edit]

Illinois redistricted its at-large seat into an additional geographical district for a total of 26, changing boundaries across the state and moving several seats from downstate into the Chicago suburbs.^[13]

Indiana[edit]

Iowa[edit]

Kansas[edit]

Kentucky[edit]

Louisiana[edit]

Maine[edit]

Maryland[edit]