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.

Overall results

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. The Republicans did not field a candidate in one-fourth of the seats in the Southern United States. 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. Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

Retirements

Democrats

Republicans

Resignations and deaths

Democrats

Republicans

Incumbents Defeated

In Primary Elections

Republicans

In General Elections

Democrats

Two Democrats lost re-election to Republicans

Republicans

4 Republicans lost re-election to Democrats

Open seats that changed parties

Republican seats won by Democrats

Two Republican seats were won by Democrats:

Democratic seats won by Republicans

One Democratic seat was won by a Republican:

Open seats that parties held

Democratic seats held by Democrats

Democrats held twelve of their open seats

Republican seats held by Republicans

Republicans held thirteen of their open seats

Special elections

Ordered by election date, then by state/district.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Source:

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

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

! American Samoa at-large ✅ Eni Faleomavaega (Democratic) 51.0% Tufele Lia (Independent) 49.0% ! District of Columbia at-large ✅ Walter Fauntroy (Democratic) 71.3% W. Ron Evans (Republican) 13.4% Alvin Frost (Independent) 8.1% David Dabney (Independent) 6.1% ! Guam at-large ✅ Ben Blaz (Republican) 54.7% Vicente C. Pangelinan (Democratic) 45.3% ! Puerto Rico at-large ✅ Jaime Fuster (PPD/Democratic) 49.0% Pedro Rosselló (PNP/Democratic) 46.6% Luis Pío Sánchez Longo (PIP) 4.5% ! U.S. Virgin Islands at-large ✅ Ron de Lugo (Democratic) 97.4%