United States House of Representatives elections, 1968

United States House of Representatives elections, 1968

November 5, 1968
All 435 seats to the United States House of Representatives 218 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader John McCormack Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 10, 1962 January 3, 1965 Leader's seat Massachusetts 9th Michigan 5th Last election 248 seats 187 seats Seats won 243 192 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 33,214,994 32,059,047 Percentage 50.2% 48.5% Swing 0.7% 0.3%
Speaker before election John McCormack Democratic Elected Speaker John McCormack Democratic

The 1968 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives in 1968 which coincided with Richard M. Nixon's election as President. Nixon's narrow victory yielded only limited gains for his Republican Party, which picked up a net of five seats from the Democratic Party. The Democrats retained a majority in the House.

The election coincided with the presidential campaign of George Wallace of the American Independent Party, who unsuccessfully attempted to deny a majority in the Electoral College to any of his opponents. Had Wallace succeeded he would have given the House the choice of president from among the three, for the first time since 1825. As a result of this election, Democrats formed a majority of 26 state House delegations, with Republicans forming a majority in 19 and the other five delegations being evenly split (each state's House delegation receives one vote in such an election). However, the Democrats' nominal majority of state delegations includes those of the Southern states who were more inclined to support Wallace as opposed to Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey. Wallace believed the Southern representatives would be able to use the clout his campaign was trying to give them to force an end to federal desegregation efforts in the South.

Notable freshmen were future Senator and Governor Lowell P. Weicker (R-CT), future Senator John Glenn Beall Jr., future Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr., future Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Abner J. Mikva and future Mayor of New York City Ed Koch (D-NY).

Overall results

Summary of the November 5, 1968 election results

Parties		Seats				Popular Vote
		1966	1968	Change	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Democratic Party	248	243	5	55.9%	33,214,994	50.2%	0.7%
	Republican Party	187	192	5	44.1%	32,059,047	48.5%	0.3%
	Conservative Party	——	——	——	——	256,498	0.4%
	American Independent Party	——	——	——	——	171,422	0.3%	0.3%
	Liberal Party	——	——	——	——	85,462	0.1%
	National Democratic Party	——	——	——	——	83,818	0.1%	0.1%
	Independent	——	——	——	——	75,515	0.1%	0.1%
	Constitution Party	——	——	——	——	58,209	0.1%	0.1%
	Peace and Freedom Party	——	——	——	——	57,468	0.1%	0.1%
	Voice of Independence Party	——	——	——	——	9,399	<0.1%
	No Additional Taxes Party	——	——	——	——	8,493	<0.1%
	Socialist Labor Party	——	——	——	——	7,126	<0.1%
	New Party	——	——	——	——	4,534	<0.1%
	Socialist Workers Party	——	——	——	——	3,127	<0.1%
	De-escalators Party	——	——	——	——	2,798	<0.1%
	Common Sense Party	——	——	——	——	2,749	<0.1%
	American Anti-Communist Party	——	——	——	——	1,721	<0.1%
	Independent's Choice Party	——	——	——	——	1,314	<0.1%
	Abolish Port Authority Party	——	——	——	——	1,072	<0.1%
	New Politics Party	——	——	——	——	795	<0.1%
	Primary Party	——	——	——	——	572	<0.1%
	Prohibition Party	——	——	——	——	351	<0.1%
	Others	——	——	——	——	2,725	<0.1%	0.1%
Total		435	435	0	100.0%	66,109,209	100.0%	——
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Separate elections

November elections