1974 United States House of Representatives elections

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox election The 1974 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives on November 5, 1974, to elect members to serve in the 94th United States Congress. They occurred in the wake of the Watergate scandal, which had forced President Richard Nixon to resign in favor of Gerald Ford. This scandal, along with high inflation,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> allowed the Democrats to make large gains in the midterm elections, taking 48 seats from the Republicans (an additional seat was gained, for a net gain of 49, when Representative Joe Moakley from Massachusetts switched his party affiliation back to Democrat after winning his 1972 election as an independent), and increasing their majority above the two-thirds mark. Altogether, there were 93 freshmen representatives in the 94th Congress when it convened on January 3, 1975 (76 of them Democrats). Those elected to office that year later came to be known collectively as "Watergate Babies."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The gain of 49 Democratic seats was the largest pickup by the party since 1958. Only four Democratic incumbents lost their seats.

Template:As of, this was the last time the Democrats gained 45 or more seats in a House election.

Overall results

391 incumbent members sought reelection, but 8 were defeated in primaries and 40 defeated in the general election for a total of 343 incumbents winning. This was the lowest number and percentage of incumbents who won reelection between 1954 and 1992.Template:Sfn

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Democratic	Republican

Summary of the November 5, 1974, United States House of Representatives election results<ref>Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk</ref>

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
Parties		1972	1974	+/-	Strength	Vote	%	Change
Template:Party color cell	Democratic Party	242	291	+49	66.9%	30,054,097	57.5%	+5.4%
Template:Party color cell	Republican Party	192	144	-48	33.1%	21,271,332	40.7%	-5.8%
Template:Party color cell	Independents	1	0	-1	-	340,501	0.7%	+0.5%
Template:Party color cell	American Party	0	0	-	-	238,265	0.5%	+0.2%
Template:Party color cell	Conservative Party	0	0	-	-	115,980	0.2%	-0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Liberal Party	0	0	-	-	56,714	0.1%	-0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Peace and Freedom Party	0	0	-	-	35,984	0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	U.S. Labor Party	0	0	-	-	26,342	0.1%	+0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Economic Justice Party	0	0	-	-	16,932	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Constitution Party	0	0	-	-	16,822	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Socialist Workers Party	0	0	-	-	13,982	<0.1%	-0.1%
Template:Party color cell	George Wallace Party	0	0	-	-	11,943	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Communist Party	0	0	-	-	10,627	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Socialist Labor Party	0	0	-	-	10,564	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Liberty Union Party	0	0	-	-	9,961	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Independent Citizens' Action Party	0	0	-	-	9,520	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Prohibition Party	0	0	-	-	8,387	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Life, Liberty, Justice Party	0	0	-	-	8,199	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Human Rights Party	0	0	-	-	6,700	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	National Democratic Party	0	0	-	-	5,723	<0.1%	-0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Good Neighbor Party	0	0	-	-	4,266	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Politicians Are Crooks Party	0	0	-	-	3,460	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Libertarian Party	0	0	-	-	3,099	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Independent Vermonters Party	0	0	-	-	2,641	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	New Leadership Party	0	0	-	-	1,778	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Regular Democracy Party	0	0	-	-	1,451	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Public Congress Party	0	0	-	-	1,241	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Integrity in Government Party	0	0	-	-	1,182	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Anti-monopoly Party	0	0	-	-	1,177	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Christian Party	0	0	-	-	583	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	United Citizens Party	0	0	-	-	529	<0.1%	-
Template:Party color cell	Others	0	0	-	-	6,543	<0.1%	-
Total		435	435	0	100.0%	52,313,457	100.0%	-

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Special elections

These elections were for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 1975.

House seats by party holding plurality in state
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1974 United States House of Representatives elections

Overall results

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

Wyoming

See also

Notes

References

Works cited

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