The 1986 United States House of Representatives elections was held on November 4, 1986, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 100th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's second term in office, while he was still relatively popular with the American public. As in most mid-term elections, the president's party — in this case, the Republican Party — lost seats, with the Democratic Party gaining a net of five seats and cementing its majority. These results were not as dramatic as those in the Senate, where the Republicans lost control of the chamber to the Democrats.

Overall results

393 incumbent members sought reelection, but 2 were defeated in primaries and 6 defeated in the general election for a total of 385 incumbents winning. Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Retiring incumbents

A total of 40 representatives (19 Democrats and 21 Republicans) retired, 22 of whom (12 Democrats and 10 Republicans) retired to run for other offices.

Democrats

Nineteen incumbent Democrats retired.

Republicans

Twenty-one incumbent Republicans retired.

Resignations and deaths

Democrats

One Democrat died in office and one Democrat resigned.

Incumbents Defeated

In Primary Elections

Democrats

Two Democrats lost renomination.

Republican

One Republican lost renomination

In General Elections

Democrats

Two Democrats lost re-election to Republicans

Republicans

5 Republicans lost re-election to Democrats

Open seats that changed parties

Republican seats won by Democrats

Eight Republican seats were won by Democrats:

Democratic seats won by Republicans

Seven Democratic seat was won by a Republican:

Open seats that parties held

Democratic seats held by Democrats

Democrats held fourteen of their open seats

Republican seats held by Republicans

Republicans held fifteen of their open seats

Special elections

Sorted by election date

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Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

! Wisconsin's 1st congressional district ✅ Les Aspin (Democratic) 74.3% Iris Peterson (Republican) 24.1% John Graf (Labor) 1.6% ! Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district ✅ Robert Kastenmeier (Democratic) 55.5% Ann J. Haney (Republican) 44.2% Syed Ameen (Independent) 0.2% ! Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district ✅ Steve Gunderson (Republican) 64.1% Leland E. Mulder (Democratic) 35.9% ! Wisconsin's 4th congressional district ✅ Jerry Kleczka (Democratic) 99.6% ! Wisconsin's 5th congressional district ✅ Jim Moody (Democratic) 99.0% ! Wisconsin's 6th congressional district ✅ Tom Petri (Republican) 96.7% John R. Daggett (Independent) 3.3% ! Wisconsin's 7th congressional district ✅ Dave Obey (Democratic) 62.1% Kevin J. Hermening (Republican) 36.9% Joseph D. Damrell (Labor) 0.9% ! Wisconsin's 8th congressional district ✅ Toby Roth (Republican) 67.4% Paul Willems (Democratic) 32.6% ! Wisconsin's 9th congressional district ✅ Jim Sensenbrenner (Republican) 78.2% Thomas G. Popp (Democratic) 21.8%

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

! American Samoa at-large ✅ Fofō Iosefa Fiti Sunia (Democratic) 55.5% Soli Aumoeualogo (Republican) 44.5% ! District of Columbia at-large ✅ Walter Fauntroy (Democratic) 80.1% Mary L. H. King (Republican) 13.9% Julie McCall (Statehood) 4.8% ! Guam at-large ✅ Ben Blaz (Republican) 63.9% Frank Torres (Democratic) 34.9% ! U.S. Virgin Islands at-large ✅ Ron de Lugo (Democratic) 94.7%