1988 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1986 November 8, 1988 1990 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Jim Wright Bob Michel Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 1987 January 3, 1981 Leader's seat Texas 12th Illinois 18th Last election 258 seats 177 seats Seats won 260 175 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 43,544,565 37,209,219 Percentage 53.3% 45.6% Swing 1.0% 1.2%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain
Speaker before election Jim Wright Democratic Elected Speaker Jim Wright Democratic

The 1988 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 8, 1988, to elect members to serve in the 101st United States Congress. They coincided with the election of George H. W. Bush as president. Although Bush won with a strong majority, his Republican Party lost a net of two seats to the Democratic Party, slightly increasing the Democratic majority in the House. It was the first time since 1960 that an incoming president's party lost seats in the House.

409 incumbent members sought reelection, but one was defeated in a primary and six were defeated in the general election for a total of 402 incumbents winning. This was the highest number and percentage of incumbents who won reelection between 1954 and 1992.^[1]

The Republicans did not field a candidate in one-fourth of the seats in the Southern United States.^[2] This is the last congressional election in which Republicans won a House seat in Hawaii for a full term and the last time they won a seat in Vermont.

Party		Seats			Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
		Last election (1986)	This election	Net change
	Democratic Party	258	260	2	59.8%	53.3%	43,544,565
	Republican Party	177	175	2	40.2%	45.6%	37,209,219
	Libertarian Party	0	0		0.0%	0.6%	445,708
	Independent	0	0		0.0%	0.2%	161,381
	Peace and Freedom Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	89,494
	Right to Life Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	52,296
	Conservative Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	47,577
	Others	0	0		0.0%	0.2%	131,945
Totals		435	435		100.0%	100.0%	81,682,185

Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

1. Florida 6: Buddy MacKay retired to run for U.S. Senate.
2. Florida 14: Dan Mica retired to run for U.S. Senate.
3. Illinois 22: Kenneth J. Gray retired.
4. Massachusetts 2: Edward Boland retired.
5. Mississippi 4: Wayne Dowdy retired to run for U.S. Senate.
6. New Jersey 10: Peter W. Rodino retired.
7. New York 23: Samuel S. Stratton retired.
8. Tennessee 8: Ed Jones retired.
9. Washington 3: Don Bonker retired run for U.S. Senate.
10. Washington 7: Mike Lowry retired run for U.S. Senate.

1. California 40: Robert Badham retired.
2. California 42: Dan Lungren retired to become California State Treasurer.
3. Florida 13: Connie Mack III retired to run for U.S. Senate.
4. Mississippi 5: Trent Lott retired to run for U.S. Senate.
5. Missouri 7: Gene Taylor retired.
6. Nebraska 2: Hal Daub retired to run for U.S. Senate.
7. New Hampshire 2: Judd Gregg retired to run for governor of New Hampshire.
8. New Mexico 1: Manuel Lujan Jr. retired.
9. New York 27: George C. Wortley retired.
10. New Hampshire 2: Judd Gregg retired to run for U.S. President.
11. Ohio 5: Del Latta retired.
12. Texas 13: Beau Boulter retired to run for U.S. Senate.
13. Vermont at-large: Jim Jeffords retired to run for U.S. Senate.

1. Tennessee 5: Bill Boner resigned October 5, 1987, to become Mayor of Nashville.
2. Virginia 5: Dan Daniel Incumbent died January 24, 1988.
3. New Jersey 5: James J. Howard died March 25, 1988.

1. Louisiana 5: Buddy Roemer resigned March 3, 1988, to become Governor of Louisiana.
2. Tennessee 2: John Duncan Sr. died June 21, 1988.

1. California 12: Ernie Konnyu lost renomination to Tom Campbell, who won the general election.

Two Democrats lost re-election to Republicans

1. California 12: Bill Chappell lost re-election to Craig James.
2. Rhode Island 2: Fernand St Germain lost re-election to Ronald Machtley.

4 Republicans lost re-election to Democrats

1. Georgia 4: Pat Swindall lost re-election to Craig James.
2. Illinois 4: Jack Davis lost re-election to George E. Sangmeister.
3. New York 20: Joe DioGuardi lost re-election to Nita Lowey.
4. Texas 14: Mac Sweeney lost re-election to Greg Laughlin.

Two Republican seats were won by Democrats:

1. Nebraska 2: won by Peter Hoagland.
2. Texas 13: won by Bill Sarpalius.

One Democratic seat was won by a Republican:

1. Florida 6: won by Cliff Stearns.

Ordered by election date, then by state/district.

Source: "N 1988 General Electionovember 8, 1988". Secretary of State of Georgia. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2011.