Contents

2018 United States House of Representatives elections

2018 United States House of Representatives elections

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All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives[a] 218 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	50.3%[1] 4.4 pp
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nancy Pelosi Paul Ryan (retired) Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 2003 October 29, 2015 Leader's seat California 12th Wisconsin 1st Last election 194 seats, 48.0%[2] 241 seats, 49.1%[2] Seats won 235[b] 199[b] Seat change 41[c] 41[d] Popular vote 60,572,245[3] 50,861,970[3] Percentage 53.4% 44.8% Swing 5.4% 4.3%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain      Result voided and sent to special election[e]
Speaker before election Paul Ryan Republican Elected Speaker Nancy Pelosi Democratic

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 6, 2018, as part of the 2018 midterm elections during President Donald Trump's term, with early voting taking place in some states in the weeks preceding that date. Voters chose representatives from all 435 congressional districts across each of the 50 U.S. states to serve in the 116th United States Congress. Non-voting delegates from the District of Columbia and four of the five inhabited U.S. territories^[f] were also elected. On Election Day, Republicans had held a House majority since January 2011.^[4]

In the 2018 elections, the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, won control of the House. The Democrats gained a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in the 2016 elections. The 41-seat gain was the Democrats' largest gain of House seats since the post-Watergate 1974 elections, when they picked up 49 seats. This was the first time since 1954 that Democrats flipped a chamber of Congress in a Republican president's first midterm. Democrats also won the popular vote by an 8.6% margin, the largest margin of victory for any party during a midterm election since 1986.

Upon the opening of the 116th Congress, Pelosi was electedasSpeaker of the House.^[5] Incumbent Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan chose not to run for another term.^[6] In November 2018, House Republicans elected Kevin McCarthy as House Minority Leader.^[7]

The House Republicans' passage of the widely unpopular American Health Care Act of 2017 to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as well as opposition to Trump's policies, his poor approval ratings, and questions about his personal stamina for office, are credited for the Democratic takeover of the House.

As of 2022, this marks the latest time Democrats won any house seats in Oklahoma and Utah, the latest time they won a majority of seats in Iowa and Minnesota, as well as the latest time they won every seat based in New York City, Los Angeles County, or Orange County, California.

The Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. The Democrats gained a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in the 2016 elections. This was their largest gain of House seats in an election since the 1974 elections, when the Democrats gained 49 House seats.^{[8][9][10][11]} Democrats won the popular vote by more than 9.7 million votes, or 8.6%,^[12] the largest midterm margin for any party^[13] and the largest margin on record for a minority party.^[14]

According to the Associated Press' statistical analysis, gerrymandering cost the Democrats an additional sixteen House seats from Republicans.^[15]

Voter turnout in this election was 50.3%,^[1] the highest turnout in a U.S. midterm election since 1914.^[16]

Note that the results summary does not include blank and over/under votes which were included in the official results or votes cast in the voided electioninNorth Carolina's 9th congressional district.

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
		2016	2018	+/−	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Democratic Party	194	235	41	54.0%	60,572,245	53.4%	+5.4%
	Republican Party	241	199	42	45.7%	50,861,970	44.8%	–4.3%
	Libertarian Party	—	—	—	—	758,492	0.7%	–0.6%
	Independent	—	—	—	—	569,502	0.5%	–0.2%
	Green Party	—	—	—	—	247,231	0.2%	–0.2%
	Constitution Party	—	—	—	—	59,972	0.1%	–
	Others	—	—	—	—	343,577	0.3%	–0.1%
Totals		435	435[e]	0	100.0%	113,412,989	100.0%	—
Source: [1] Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk (see note above)

State	Total seats	Democratic		Republican
		Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	7	1		6
Alaska	1	0		1
Arizona	9	5	1	4	1
Arkansas	4	0		4
California	53	46	7	7	7
Colorado	7	4	1	3	1
Connecticut	5	5		0
Delaware	1	1		0
Florida	27	13	2	14	2
Georgia	14	5	1	9	1
Hawaii	2	2		0
Idaho	2	0		2
Illinois	18	13	2	5	2
Indiana	9	2		7
Iowa	4	3	2	1	2
Kansas	4	1	1	3	1
Kentucky	6	1		5
Louisiana	6	1		5
Maine	2	2	1	0	1
Maryland	8	7		1
Massachusetts	9	9		0
Michigan	14	7	2	7	2
Minnesota	8	5		3
Mississippi	4	1		3
Missouri	8	2		6
Montana	1	0		1
Nebraska	3	0		3
Nevada	4	3		1
New Hampshire	2	2		0
New Jersey	12	11	4	1	4
New Mexico	3	3	1	0	1
New York	27	21	3	6	3
North Carolina	13	3		9	1
North Dakota	1	0		1
Ohio	16	4		12
Oklahoma	5	1	1	4	1
Oregon	5	4		1
Pennsylvania	18	9	4	9	4
Rhode Island	2	2		0
South Carolina	7	2	1	5	1
South Dakota	1	0		1
Tennessee	9	2		7
Texas	36	13	2	23	2
Utah	4	1	1	3	1
Vermont	1	1		0
Virginia	11	7	3	4	3
Washington	10	7	1	3	1
West Virginia	3	0		3
Wisconsin	8	3		5
Wyoming	1	0		1
Total	435	235	41	199	42

• 
  Cartogram of results:
  
• 
  Popular vote by states
• 
  House seats by party holding plurality in state
• 
  Net changes to U.S. House seats after the 2018 elections
       +1 Dem House Seat      +2 Dem House seats
       +3–4 Dem House seats      +7 Dem House seats
       Both parties won 2 seats and lost 2 seats, no net change.
• 
  Results shaded according to winning candidate's share of the vote

In the November general elections, 55 incumbents did not seek re-election, some of whom sought other elected office.

18 Democrats did not seek re-election.

1. Arizona 9: Kyrsten Sinema retired to run for U.S. Senator.^[18]
2. Colorado 2: Jared Polis retired to run for Governor of Colorado.^[18]
3. Connecticut 5: Elizabeth Esty retired after involvement in sexual harassment allegations against an employee.^[18][19]
4. Hawaii 1: Colleen Hanabusa retired to run for Governor of Hawaii.^[18]
5. Illinois 4: Luis Gutiérrez retired.^[18]
6. Maryland 6: John Delaney retired to run for U.S. President.^[18]
7. Massachusetts 3: Niki Tsongas retired.^[18]
8. Michigan 9: Sander Levin retired.^[18]
9. Minnesota 1: Tim Walz retired to run for Governor of Minnesota.^[18]
10. Minnesota 5: Keith Ellison retired to run for Minnesota Attorney General.^[20]
11. Minnesota 8: Rick Nolan retired to run for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota.^[21][22]
12. Nevada 3: Jacky Rosen retired to run for U.S. Senator.^[18]
13. Nevada 4: Rubén Kihuen retired due to sexual harassment allegations.^[23]
14. New Hampshire 1: Carol Shea-Porter retired.^[18]
15. New Mexico 1: Michelle Lujan Grisham retired to run for Governor of New Mexico.^[18]
16. Pennsylvania 2: Bob Brady retired after being redistricted from the 1st district.^[18]
17. Texas 16: Beto O'Rourke retired to run for U.S. Senator.^[18]
18. Texas 29: Gene Green retired.^[18]

37 Republicans did not seek re-election.

One Democrat resigned and one died.

1. Michigan 13: John Conyers resigned.
2. New York 25: Louise Slaughter died.

1. Arizona 8: Tent Franks resigned on December 8, 2017.
2. Ohio 12: Pat Tiberi resigned on January 15, 2018.
3. Pennsylvania 5: Pat Meehan resigned on April 27, 2018, after being redistricted from the 7th district.
4. Pennsylvania 7: Charlie Dent resigned on May 12, 2018, after being redistricted to the 15th district.
5. Texas 27: Blake Farenthold (R) announced his retirement December 14, 2017. He resigned on April 6, 2018.
6. Utah 3: Jason Chaffetz (R) announced his retirement April 19, 2017. He resigned on June 30, 2017.

Three Democrats (including one non-voting delegate) lost renomination.

1. Guam at-large: Delegate Madeleine Bordallo lost renomination to Michael San Nicolas, who went on to win the general election.^[33][34]
2. Massachusetts 7: Mike Capuano lost renomination to Ayanna Pressley, who went on to win the general election.^[35]
3. New York 14: Joe Crowley lost renomination to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who went on to win the general election.^[35]

Two Republicans lost renomination.^[35]

1. North Carolina 9: Robert Pittenger lost renomination to Mark Harris. A new special election was ordered due to electoral fraud conducted by associates of Republican Harris's campaign.^[b]
2. South Carolina 1: Mark Sanford lost renomination to Katie Arrington, who lost the general election to Joe Cunningham (D).

No Democrats lost re-election to Republicans.^[36]

Thirty Republicans lost re-election to Democrats.^[36]

Three open Democratic seats were won by Republicans.

1. Minnesota 1: won by Jim Hagedorn.^[38]
2. Minnesota 8: won by Pete Stauber.^[39]
3. Pennsylvania 14: Conor Lamb instead ran in the 17th district; won by Guy Reschenthaler.^[39]

Thirteen open Republican seats were won by Democrats.

1. Arizona 2: won by Ann Kirkpatrick.
2. California 39: won by Gil Cisneros.
3. California 49: won by Mike Levin.
4. Florida 27: won by Donna Shalala.
5. Michigan 11: won by Haley Stevens.
6. New Jersey 2: won by Jeff Van Drew, who later became a Republican on December 19, 2019.^[40]
7. New Jersey 11: won by Mikie Sherrill.
8. New Mexico 2: won by Xochitl Torres Small.
9. Pennsylvania 5: won by Mary Gay Scanlon.
10. Pennsylvania 6: won by Chrissy Houlahan.
11. Pennsylvania 7: won by Susan Wild.
12. South Carolina 1: won by Joe Cunningham.
13. Washington 8: won by Kim Schrier.

3 Republicans, all of whom already announced their retirement, resigned early

1. Florida 6: Ron DeSantis resigned on September 10, 2018, retroactive to September 1, to focus on his campaign for Governor of Florida.^[41][42] This seat was then left vacant until the 116th Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2019.
2. Oklahoma 1: Jim Bridenstine resigned on April 23, 2018, to become head of NASA.^[43] This seat was then left vacant until Kevin Hern was sworn in early on November 13, 2018, having won the regularly scheduled November 6, 2018 election for the next full term.^[44][45]
3. West Virginia 3: Evan Jenkins announced his retirement May 8, 2017, to run for U.S. Senator.^[18] He lost the nomination and then resigned September 30, 2018, when appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. This seat was then left vacant until the 116th Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2019.

Eighty-nine races were decided by 10% or lower.

Elections ordered by election date.