The 1978 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

on November 7, 1978, to elect members to serve in the

96th United States Congress The 96th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1979 ...

. They occurred in the middle of Democratic President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

's term, amidst an

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...

and rapid inflation. The Democratic Party lost a net of 15 seats to the Republican Party, and thus lost their two-thirds supermajority, but still maintained a large 277-seat majority. As of , this was the last

midterm election Apart from general elections and by-elections, a midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the t ...

where the Democrats managed to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives under a Democratic president, the last midterm election in which a registered

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

member was elected, and the last time overall in which any party won at least 270 House seats.

Overall results

382 incumbent members sought reelection, but 5 were defeated in primaries and 19 defeated in the general election for a total of 358 incumbents winning. Source
Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Special elections

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

, - , ,

Les Aspin Leslie Aspin Jr. (July 21, 1938 – May 21, 1995) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician and economist who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st co ...

, , Democratic ,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Robert Kastenmeier , , Democratic ,

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Alvin Baldus , , Democratic ,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Clement J. Zablocki , , Democratic ,

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Henry S. Reuss , , Democratic ,

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , ,

William A. Steiger William Albert Steiger (May 15, 1938 – December 4, 1978) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to his death from a heart attack in Washington, DC, in 1978. He served as a Republican from Wisconsin. Early life Steiger was ...

, , Republican ,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Dave Obey , , Democratic , 1969 , Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - , , Robert John Cornell , , Democratic ,

, , Incumbent lost re-election.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - , ,

Bob Kasten Robert Walter Kasten Jr. (born June 19, 1942) is an American Republican politician from the state of Wisconsin who served as a U.S. Representative from 1975 to 1979 and as a United States Senator from 1981 to 1993. Background Kasten was born ...