The 2010 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 2, 2010, as part of the 2010 midterm elections during President Barack Obama's first term in office. Voters of the 50 U.S. states chose 435 U.S. Representatives to serve in the 112th United States Congress. Also, voters of the U.S. territories, commonwealths and District of Columbia chose their non-voting delegates. U.S. Senate elections and various state and local elections were held on the same date. Republicans regained control of the U.S. House they had lost in the 2006 midterm election, picking up a net total of 63 seats and erasing the gains Democrats made in 2006 and 2008. Although the sitting president's party usually loses seats in a midterm election, the 2010 election resulted in the highest losses by a party in a House midterm election since 1938, as well as the largest House swing since 1948. In total, 52 House Democrats were defeated, including 34 freshman and sophomore representatives. Republicans made their largest gain in House seats since 1938. Three Democratic committee chairmen were defeated: transportation chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, armed services chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri, and budget chairman John Spratt of South Carolina. Democrats made three pick-ups, winning an open seat in Delaware and defeating Republican incumbents in Hawaii and Louisiana. The heavy Democratic Party losses in 2010 were attributed to anger at President Obama, opposition to the Affordable Care Act and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, large budget deficits, and the weak economy. This is the last election in which Democrats won a seat in Arkansas, and the last in which Republicans won more than one seat in Maryland, as well as both seats in New Hampshire.

Background

Following the 2006 elections, Democrats took control of the House as well as the Senate. In the 2008 elections, which coincided with Democrat Barack Obama's victory over Republican John McCain for the presidency, Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers. Of the 435 congressional districts, 242 were carried by Obama, while 193 voted for McCain. Of the districts Obama won, 34 elected a Republican to the House, while 49 of the districts McCain won elected a Democrat.

Republican gains

The Republicans' 63-seat pickup in the House to take control of that chamber, as well as their gain of six Senate seats, signified a dramatic rollback of recent Democratic gains. In the election, Republicans won their greatest number of House seats since 1946. This has been attributed to the continued economic recession, as well as President Obama's controversial stimulus and health care reform bills. Republicans also took control of 29 of the 50 state governorships and gained 690 seats in state legislatures, to hold their greatest number since the 1928 elections. Republicans also made historic gains in state legislatures, adding more than 675 state legislative seats, by far surpassing their state-legislative gains in 1994. Republicans gained control of dozens of state legislative chambers, and took control of "seven more legislatures outright than they did after 1994 and the most since 1952." Republicans picked up control of the Alabama Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction; control of the North Carolina Senate for the first time since 1870; and control of the Minnesota Senate for the first time since the state returned to partisan elections in 1974. The Great Lakes region, which until then had recently favored the Democratic Party, went strongly Republican. In California and the Pacific Northwest, however, the Democrats retained the upper hand. The biggest change in 2010 occurred in the Southeastern United States, which had previously been roughly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans for everything except for president. Just one white Democrat from the Deep South won reelection to the US House in 2010. Prior to 2010, many white conservative southerners had voted Republican for president, but Democratic for other offices.

Results summary

Federal

Sources: House Clerk – Statistics of the Congressional Election, 2010

Voter demographics

Source: CNN exit poll

Maps

Retiring incumbents

37 incumbents retired.

Democrats

17 incumbent Democrats retired.

Republicans

19 incumbent Republicans retired.

Incumbents defeated

There were nine Democrats who survived reelection in the 1994 Republican Revolution, but were defeated this year.

Lost renomination

Democrats

Two Democrats lost renomination. One seat was held by Democrats, while the other flipped to Republicans.

Republicans

Two Republicans lost renomination. Both seats were eventually held by Republicans.

Lost re-election

54 incumbents lost in the general election; all but two were Democrats. Many of the Democrats who lost had been initially elected in the Democratic wave years of 2006 and 2008, and several others were longtime incumbents from the southeast.

Democrats

52 Democrats lost re-election.

Republicans

Two Republicans lost re-election.

Open seats that changed parties

Democratic seats won by Republicans

14 open seats, held by Democrats, were won by Republicans.

Republican seats won by Democrats

One open seat, held by a Republican, was won by a Democrat.

Closest races

Eighty-four races were decided by 10% or lower.

Election ratings

Special elections

There were six special elections in 2010 to the 111th United States Congress, listed here by date and district. ! FL's 19th congressional district Edward Lynch (Republican) 35.2% Jim McCormick (Independent) 2.7% ! PA's 12th congressional district Tim Burns (Republican) 45.1% Demo Agoris (Libertarian) 2.3% ! HI's 1st congressional district Colleen Hanabusa (Democratic) 30.8% Ed Case (Democratic) 27.6% ! GA's 9th congressional district Lee Hawkins (Republican) 43.6% ! IN's 3rd congressional district Tom Hayhurst (Democratic) 33.0% Scott W. Wise (Libertarian) 4.3% ! NY's 29th congressional district Matthew Zeller (Democratic) 43.1%

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

! Wisconsin's 1st congressional district ✅ Paul Ryan (Republican) 68.2% John Heckenlively (Democratic) 30.1% Joseph Kexel (Libertarian) 1.6% ! Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district ✅ Tammy Baldwin (Democratic) 61.8% Chad Lee (Republican) 38.2% ! Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district ✅ Ron Kind (Democratic) 50.3% Dan Kapanke (Republican) 46.5% Mike Krsiean (Independent) 3.2% ! Wisconsin's 4th congressional district ✅ Gwen Moore (Democratic) 69.0% Dan Sebring (Republican) 29.6% Ahmad Ayyash (Independent) 1.4% ! Wisconsin's 5th congressional district ✅ Jim Sensenbrenner (Republican) 69.3% Todd Kolosso (Democratic) 27.4% Robert Raymond (Independent) 3.3% ! Wisconsin's 6th congressional district ✅ Tom Petri (Republican) 70.7% Joe Kallas (Democratic) 29.3% ! Wisconsin's 7th congressional district ✅ Sean Duffy (Republican) 52.1% Julie Lassa (Democratic) 44.4% Gary Kauther (Independent) 3.3% ! Wisconsin's 8th congressional district ✅ Reid Ribble (Republican) 54.8% Steve Kagen (Democratic) 45.1%

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

The House of Representatives includes five Delegates from the District of Columbia and outlying territories elected to two-year terms and one Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico elected to a four-year term (for which the last election was held in 2008, so the seat was not up for reelection in 2010). These delegates are not allowed to vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.