2006 United States House of Representatives elections

2006 United States House of Representatives elections
← outgoing members elected members →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives; 218 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Democratic hold Democratic gain; Republican hold
Speaker before election; Dennis Hastert; Republican	Elected Speaker ; Nancy Pelosi; Democratic

The 2006 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 7, 2006, to elect members to the United States House of Representatives. It took place in the middle of President George W. Bush's second term in office. All 435 seats of the House were up for election. Those elected served in the 110th United States Congress from January 3, 2007, until January 3, 2009. The incumbent majority party, the Republicans, had won majorities in the House consecutively since 1994, and were defeated by the Democrats who won a majority in the chamber, ending 12 years of Republican control in the House.

Quick Facts All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

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The Republicans had won a 232-seat majority in 2004, but by the time of the 2006 election, they held 229 seats, while the Democrats held 201, plus 1 Independent (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 of George W. Bush, the handling of the Iraq War and the War 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 Independent Bernie Sanders (who ran 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 the 1974 elections. Among the new Democrats were the first Muslim in Congress (Keith Ellison) and the first two Buddhists (Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson). As a result of the Democratic victory, Nancy Pelosi became the first female and the first Californian House Speaker.^[3]

As of 2024, 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. This was also the last time until 2024 that Democrats won more than one House seat in Louisiana.

Several members of the House first elected in 2006 have gone onto National attention, including Gabby Giffords and Michele Bachmann; United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Dean Heller, Mazie Hirono, and Chris Murphy; Senator and Ambassador Joe Donnelly; former Speaker Kevin McCarthy; Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; and Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz.

Federal

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233	202
Democratic	Republican

More information Party, Seats ...

Summary of the November 7, 2006, United States House of Representatives election results
Party		Seats				Popular vote
Party		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

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More information Popular vote ...

Popular vote

Democratic			52.29%
Republican			44.28%
Libertarian			0.81%
Green			0.29%
Others			2.33%

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More information House seats ...

House seats

Democratic			53.56%
Republican			46.44%

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Voter demographics

More information Vote by demographic subgroup, Demographic subgroup ...

Vote by demographic subgroup
Demographic subgroup	DEM	GOP	Other	% of total vote
Total vote	52	44	4	100
Ideology
Liberals	87	11	2	20
Moderates	60	38	2	47
Conservatives	20	78	2	32
Party
Democrats	93	7	n/a	38
Republicans	8	91	1	36
Independents	57	39	4	26
Gender
Men	50	47	3	49
Women	55	43	2	51
Marital status
Married	48	51	1	68
Unmarried	64	34	2	32
Gender by marital status
Married men	47	51	2	35
Married women	48	50	2	33
Unmarried men	62	36	2	14
Unmarried women	66	32	2	18
Race/ethnicity
White	47	51	2	79
Black	89	10	1	10
Asian	62	37	1	2
Other	55	42	3	2
Hispanic (of any race)	69	30	1	8
Gender by race
White men	44	53	3	39
White women	49	50	1	40
Non-white men	75	23	2	9
Non-white women	78	21	1	11
Religion
Protestant	44	54	2	55
Catholic	55	44	1	26
Jewish	87	12	1	2
Other religion	71	25	4	6
None	74	22	4	11
Religious service attendance
More than weekly	38	60	2	17
Weekly	46	53	1	28
Monthly	57	41	2	12
A few times a year	60	38	2	25
Never	67	30	3	15
White evangelical or born-again Christian
White evangelical or born-again Christian	28	70	2	24
Everyone else	59	39	2	76
Age
18–29 years old	60	38	2	12
30–44 years old	53	45	2	24
45–59 years old	53	46	1	34
60 and older	50	48	2	29
Sexual orientation
LGBT	75	24	1	3
Heterosexual	52	46	2	97
Education
Not a high school graduate	64	35	1	3
High school graduate	55	44	1	21
Some college education	51	47	2	31
College graduate	49	49	2	27
Postgraduate education	58	41	1	18
Family income
Under $15,000	67	30	3	7
$15,000–30,000	61	36	3	12
$30,000–50,000	56	43	1	21
$50,000–75,000	50	48	2	22
$75,000–100,000	52	47	1	16
$100,000–150,000	47	51	2	13
$150,000–200,000	47	51	2	5
Over $200,000	45	53	2	5
Union households
Union	64	34	2	23
Non-union	49	49	2	77
Region
Northeast	63	35	2	22
Midwest	52	47	1	27
South	45	53	2	30
West	54	43	3	21
Community size
Urban	61	37	2	30
Suburban	50	48	2	47
Rural	48	50	2	24

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Source: CNN exit poll^[4]

Maps

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 were New 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; and Ohio's 18th congressional district and Florida'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 Democrat Bob Menendez, Texas's 22nd congressional district had been held by Republican Tom DeLay, Ohio's 18th congressional district had been held by Republican Robert Ney, and Florida's 16th congressional district had been held by Republican Mark Foley. Democrats won all four races.

Democratic incumbents

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

Republican incumbents

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

Independent incumbent

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

Vermont's at-large: Bernie Sanders

Defeated in primary elections

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

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

Defeated in general election

23 Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats.

Five Republicans who retired were replaced by Democrats.

Arizona's 8th congressional district: Jim Kolbe was replaced by Gabby Giffords.
Colorado's 7th congressional district: Bob Beauprez was replaced by Ed Perlmutter.
Iowa's 1st congressional district: Jim Nussle was replaced by Bruce Braley.
New York's 24th congressional district: Sherwood Boehlert was replaced by Mike Arcuri.
Wisconsin's 8th congressional district: Mark Andrew Green was replaced by Steve Kagan.

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

Vermont's at-large: Bernie Sanders was replaced by Peter Welch.

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

More information District, Winner ...

District	Winner	Margin
Connecticut 2nd	Democratic (flip)	0.04%
Florida 13th	Republican	0.16%
North Carolina 8th	Republican	0.28%
New Mexico 1st	Republican	0.40%
Ohio 15th	Republican	0.48%
Wyoming at-large	Republican	0.53%
Pennsylvania 8th	Democratic (flip)	0.60%
Georgia 12th	Democratic	0.61%
Ohio 2nd	Republican	1.06%
Georgia 8th	Democratic	1.09%
Pennsylvania 6th	Republican	1.32%
New Jersey 7th	Republican	1.48%
New York 25th	Republican	1.57%
Florida 16th	Democratic (flip)	1.89%
Nevada 3rd	Republican	1.89%
Wisconsin 8th	Democratic (flip)	2.14%
New York 19th	Democratic (flip)	2.43%
Kentucky 3rd	Democratic (flip)	2.44%
Colorado 4th	Republican	2.49%
New Hampshire 1st	Democratic (flip)	2.63%
Illinois 6th	Republican	2.70%
Virginia 2nd	Republican	2.82%
Iowa 2nd	Democratic (flip)	2.86%
New York 29th	Republican	2.92%
Washington 8th	Republican	2.92%
California 4th	Republican	3.18%
Connecticut 4th	Republican	3.38%
Kansas 2nd	Democratic (flip)	3.46%
Florida 22nd	Democratic (flip)	3.75%
Pennsylvania 4th	Democratic (flip)	3.85%
Michigan 7th	Republican	3.95%
New York 26th	Republican	3.96%
Arizona 5th	Democratic (flip)	3.97%
Ohio 1st	Republican	4.50%
Indiana 9th	Democratic (flip)	4.52%
Idaho 1st	Republican	5.14%
Michigan 9th	Republican	5.34%
Iowa 3rd	Democratic	5.40%
Nevada 2nd	Republican	5.41%
Minnesota 1st	Democratic (flip)	5.62%
Pennsylvania 10th	Democratic (flip)	5.90%
New York 20th	Democratic (flip)	6.20%
California 11th	Democratic (flip)	6.54%
Illinois 10th	Republican	6.76%
Illinois 8th	Democratic	6.89%
Florida 8th	Republican	7.06%
New Hampshire 2nd	Democratic (flip)	7.10%
Indiana 7th	Democratic	7.52%
North Carolina 11th	Democratic (flip)	7.58%
Indiana 2nd	Democratic (flip)	7.96%
Minnesota 6th	Republican	7.98%
Arizona 1st	Republican	8.30%
Kentucky 4th	Republican	8.31%
Indiana 3rd	Republican	8.56%
Texas 23rd	Democratic (flip)	8.56%
Vermont at-large	Democratic (flip)	8.68%
New York 24th	Democratic (flip)	8.94%
Nebraska 2nd	Republican	9.32%
California 50th	Republican	9.64%
Nebraska 3rd	Republican	9.98%

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There were two special elections in 2006 to the 109th United States Congress, listed here by date and district.