electionstracker

United States 2008 House of Representatives election

What was the result of the 2008 House of Representatives election in the United States?

Democratic Party won 256 of 434 seats with 52.9% of the vote.

  • United States
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • Office of the Clerk of the House, read 4 November 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from the Office of the Clerk of the House, read : Democratic Party won 256 of 434 seats with 52.9% of the vote.

  • Democratic Party 256 +54 seats 52.9% +6.3 points
  • Republican Party 178 −54 seats 42.4% −6.8 points
  • Libertarian Party 0 0 seats 0.9% 0.0 points
  • Green Party 0 0 seats 0.5% +0.2 points
  • Independence Party 0 0 seats 0.2% 0.0 points
  • Working Families Party 0 0 seats 0.2% +0.1 points
  • Constitution Party 0 0 seats 0.1% 0.0 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the United States 2004 House of Representatives election, party by party.

218 of 434 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 52.9%

    Share of the vote won by Democratic Party

    Democratic Party won 256 of 434 seats. A majority needs 218.

  2. +54 seats

    Seats gained by Democratic Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 2004. Republican Party lost 54 seats.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Democratic Party256+5452.9+6.364,888,090
Republican Party178−5442.4−6.851,952,981
Write-ins and scattered votes01.6+0.11,946,765
Libertarian Party000.90.01,083,096
Independents00.60.0729,798
Other parties00.6+0.2684,355
Green Party000.5+0.2570,780
Independence Party000.20.0300,108
Working Families Party000.2+0.1294,299
Constitution Party000.10.0136,021

± is the change against the United States 2004 House of Representatives election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Democratic Party 64,888,090
  • Republican Party 51,952,981
  • Write-ins and scattered votes 1,946,765
  • Libertarian Party 1,083,096
  • Independents 729,798
  • Other parties 684,355
  • Green Party 570,780
  • Independence Party 300,108
  • Working Families Party 294,299
  • Constitution Party 136,021

Source: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 2008", public information that may be copied with this citation. We worked out each share.

A share is a party's votes over all the votes the Clerk counts for the House, write-ins included.

In some states the votes for a candidate who stood unopposed are not counted, as the Clerk's footnote to its table says, so the votes and shares of the parties in this election are lower than a full count. The seats are not affected.

Votes are counted on each party's own ballot line. A candidate who stood on the lines of more than one party (in New York, Connecticut and South Carolina) has the votes of the extra lines under Other parties, so the Democratic and Republican totals can be a little lower than counts that add the lines together.

Seats are the Clerk's count at the time of the election: a seat that was vacant then is not counted.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Democratic Party52.9% of votes59.0% of seats
  • Republican Party42.4% of votes41.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 4.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.2 by votes and 1.9 by seats; Democratic Party led Republican Party by 10.6 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of

Sources