2006 United States House of Representatives elections

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.

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.

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. 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.

, 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.

Several members of the House first elected in 2006 have gone on to receive national attention, including Gabby Giffords, Jim Jordan, 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.

Results Federal + ↓ 233 202 Democratic Republican

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Libertarian Party | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | 656,764 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.8% | style="text-align:right;" | −0.1%

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Independent | style="text-align:right;" | 1 | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | style="text-align:right;" | 1 | style="text-align:right;" | - | style="text-align:right;" | 417,895 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.5% | style="text-align:right;" | −0.1%

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Green Party | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | 243,391 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.3% | style="text-align:right;" | -

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Constitution Party | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | 91,133 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.1% | style="text-align:right;" | −0.1%

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Independence Party | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | 85,815 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.1% | style="text-align:right;" | -

| style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:left;" |Reform Party | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | − | style="text-align:right;" | 53,862 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.1% | style="text-align:right;" | −

Voter demographics Vote by demographic subgroup Demographic subgroup DEM GOP Other % oftotal vote Total vote 52 44 4 100Ideology Liberals 87 11 2 20 Moderates 60 38 2 47 Conservatives 20 78 2 32Party Democrats 93 7 n/a 38 Republicans 8 91 1 36 Independents 57 39 4 26Gender Men 50 47 3 49 Women 55 43 2 51Marital status Married 48 51 1 68 Unmarried 64 34 2 32Gender 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 18Race/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 11Religion 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 11Religious 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 15White evangelical or born-again Christian White evangelical or born-again Christian 28 70 2 24 Everyone else 59 39 2 76Age 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 29Sexual orientation LGBT 75 24 1 3 Heterosexual 52 46 2 97Education 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 18Family 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 5Union households Union 64 34 2 23 Non-union 49 49 2 77Region Northeast 63 35 2 22 Midwest 52 47 1 27 South 45 53 2 30 West 54 43 3 21Community size Urban 61 37 2 30 Suburban 50 48 2 47 Rural 48 50 2 24

Source: CNN exit poll

Maps

Retiring incumbents 27 incumbents did not seek re-election. The four vacancies were , to be filled at the same time as the general election with the winner taking office in November immediately after the votes were certified; , with a separate special election on the same day; and and , which did not have special elections to fill the vacancies before January 2007. 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.

: Jim Davis retired to run for governor of Florida. : Ed Case retired to run for the U.S. Senate. : Lane Evans retired. : Ben Cardin retired to run for the U.S. Senate. : Martin Olav Sabo retired. : Major Owens retired. : Ted Strickland retired to run for governor of Ohio. : Sherrod Brown retired to run for the U.S. Senate. : Harold Ford Jr. retired to run for the U.S. Senate.

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

: Jim Kolbe retired. : Bill Thomas retired. : Joel Hefley retired. : Bob Beauprez retired to run for governor of Colorado. : Michael Bilirakis retired. : Katherine Harris retired to run for the U.S. Senate. : Butch Otter retired to run for governor of Idaho. : Henry Hyde retired. : Jim Nussle retired to run for governor of Iowa. : Mark Kennedy retired to run for the U.S. Senate. : Tom Osborne retired to run for governor of Nebraska. : Jim Gibbons retired to run for governor of Nevada. : Sherwood Boehlert retired. : Mike Oxley retired. : Ernest Istook retired to run for governor of Oklahoma. : Bill Jenkins retired. : Mark Green retired to run for governor of Wisconsin.

Independent incumbent One independent who caucused with the Democrats retired, and was replaced by a Democrat. Vermont's at-large: Bernie Sanders retired to run for the U.S. Senate.

Defeated incumbents Defeated in primary elections Two incumbents were defeated in their party's respective primaries, which their respective parties held in the general election. : Cynthia McKinney (D) : Joe Schwarz (R)

Defeated in general election 22 Republican incumbents were defeated by Democrats.

: J. D. Hayworth : Richard Pombo : Rob Simmons : Nancy Johnson : Clay Shaw : Chris Chocola : John Hostettler : Mike Sodrel : Jim Leach : Jim Ryun : Anne Northup : Gil Gutknecht : Jeb Bradley : Charles Bass : Sue Kelly : John E. Sweeney : Charles Taylor : Melissa Hart : Curt Weldon : Mike Fitzpatrick : Don Sherwood : Henry Bonilla

Open seats that changed parties Five Republicans who retired were replaced by Democrats.

2006 United States House of Representatives elections

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