2004 United States House of Representatives elections

← 2002 November 2, 2004 2006 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives[a] 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Dennis Hastert Nancy Pelosi Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 3, 1999 January 3, 2003 Leader's seat Illinois 14th California 8th Last election 229 seats, 50.0% 204 seats, 45.2% Seats before 229 205 Seats won 232 202 Seat change 3 3 Popular vote 55,958,144 52,969,786 Percentage 49.4% 46.8% Swing 0.6% 1.6%   Third party   Party Independent Last election 1 seat Seats won 1 Seat change Popular vote 674,202 Percentage 0.6% Swing 0.1%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain      Independent hold
Speaker before election Dennis Hastert Republican Elected Speaker Dennis Hastert Republican

The 2004 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 2, 2004, to elect all 435 seats of the chamber. It coincided with the re-election of President George W. Bush as well as many Senate elections and gubernatorial elections. Prior to the election in the 108th Congress, Republicans held 227 seats, Democrats held 205, with two Republican vacancies and one independent. As a result of this election, the 109th Congress began composed of 232 Republicans, 201 Democrats, one independent (who caucuses with the Democrats), and one vacancy (Democrat Bob Matsui won reelection, but died just two days before the beginning of the 109th Congress.).

Democrats won open seats in Colorado, South Dakota, and New York while ousting incumbents in Georgia and Illinois. Republicans won an open seat in Kentucky while ousting an incumbent in Indiana. They gained five seats in Texas after a controversial mid-decade redistricting placed several rural Democratic incumbents into new districts. Two seats in Louisiana swapped party control.

As of 2022^[update], this is the last election in which someone who was not from the Democratic or Republican party was elected to the House (Independent Bernie Sanders). Republicans would not make consecutive net gains in the House (after gaining seats in the 2002 election) until 2020 and 2022. This was also the last election in which the Republicans made any gains in a Presidential election year until 2020.

Results

Federal

Summary of the 2004 United States House of Representatives elections results

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
		2002	2004	Net change	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Republican Party	229	232	3	53.3%	55,958,144	49.4%	-0.6%
	Democratic Party	205	202	3	46.4%	52,969,786	46.8%	+1.6%
	Libertarian Party	—	—	—	—	1,056,844	0.9%	-0.5%
	Independent	1	1	0	0.2%	674,202	0.6%	+0.1%
	Green Party	—	—	—	—	344,549	0.3%	-0.1%
	Constitution Party	—	—	—	—	187,006	0.2%	-
	Reform Party	—	—	—	—	85,539	0.1%	+0.1%
	Independence Party	—	—	—	—	76,053	0.1%	+0.1%
	Others	—	—	—	—	1,840,163	1.6%	-0.6%
Total		434	435	0	100.0%	113,192,286	100.0%	–
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Maps

• 
  Winner's share of the vote
• 
  Popular vote by states
• 
  Summary of party change of U.S. House seats in the 2004 House election

Retirements

In the November general elections, thirty incumbents did not seek re-election, either to retire or to seek other positions.

Resignations

Two seats opened early due to resignations and were not filled until the November elections.

Democrats

No Democrats resigned.

Republicans

Two Republicans resigned.

1. Florida 14: Porter Goss resigned September 23, 2004 to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
2. Nebraska 1: Doug Bereuter resigned August 31, 2004 to become president of The Asia Foundation.

Incumbents defeated

In primary elections

In the general election

Open seats that changed parties

Open seats that parties held

Closest races

Twenty-three races were decided by 10% or lower.^[1]

Newly created seats

Of the thirty-two seats created in the 2003 Texas redistricting, three had no incumbent representative.

Special elections

There were three special elections held in 2004, all of them separate from the November elections.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

On December 4, 2004, a run-off election was held to determine the winner of the 3rd and 7th congressional districts. In the 3rd district, Charlie Melancon narrowly defeated Billy Tauzin III. In the 7th district, Charles Boustany defeated Willie Mount. Thus, both seats switched to the opposite party.

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

All incumbents were re-elected.

Mississippi

Missouri