2010 United States House of Representatives elections


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. Also, voters of the U.S. territories, commonwealths, and the 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 chamber they had lost in the 2006 midterm elections, picking up a net total of 63 seats and erasing the gains Democrats made in 2006 and 2008. Although the sitting U.S. 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, and the largest House swing since 1948. Republicans made their largest gain in House seats since 1938.
The heavy Democratic Party losses in 2010 were attributed to anger at President Obama, opposition to the Affordable Care Act, large budget deficits and the weak economy.

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

Sources:

Voter demographics

Source: CNN exit poll

Retiring incumbents

Thirty-seven incumbents retired.

Democrats

Seventeen incumbent Democrats retired.
Twenty incumbent Republicans retired.
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 remained Democratic, and the other seat was taken by a Republican.
Two Republicans lost renomination. Both seats remained Republican.
Fifty-four incumbents lost in the general election; all but two were Democrats.

Democrats

52 Democrats lost re-election.
Two Republicans lost re-election.

Democratic to Republican

Fourteen open seats, held by Democrats, were won by Republicans.
One open seat, held by a Republican, was won by a Democrat.
These were predictions of the outcome of the 2010 United States House of Representatives elections.
The following table contains the final ratings of the competitiveness of selected races according to noted political analysts. Races which were considered safe for the incumbent's party are not included. Incumbents who did not run for re-election have parentheses around their name.
DistrictIncumbentCookRothenbergCQ PoliticsSabato's Crystal
Ball		RealClearWinner
AL-2Bright Roby
AL-5 Brooks
AZ-1Kirkpatrick Gosar
AZ-3 Quayle
AZ-5Mitchell Schweikert
AZ-7Grijalva Grijalva
AZ-8Giffords Giffords
AR-1 Crawford
AR-2 Griffin
CA-3Lungren Lungren
CA-11McNerney McNerney
CA-18Cardoza Cardoza
CA-20Costa Costa
CA-47Sanchez Sanchez
CO-3Salazar Tipton
CO-4Markey Gardner
CO-7Perlmutter Perlmutter
CT-4Himes Himes
CT-5C. Murphy C. Murphy
DE-AL Carney
FL-2Boyd Southerland
FL-8Grayson Webster
FL-12 Ross
FL-22Klein West
FL-24Kosmas Adams
FL-25 Rivera
GA-2S. Bishop S. Bishop
GA-8Marshall Scott
HI-1Djou Hanabusa
ID-1Minnick Labrador
IL-8Bean Walsh
IL-10 Dold
IL-11Halvorson Kinzinger
IL-14Foster Hultgren
IL-17Hare Schilling
IN-2Donnelly Donnelly
IN-8 Bucshon
IN-9Hill Young
IA-1Braley Braley
IA-2Loebsack Loebsack
IA-3Boswell Boswell
KS-3 Yoder
KY-3Yarmuth Yarmuth
KY-6Chandler Chandler
LA-2Cao Richmond
LA-3 Landry
ME-1Pingree Pingree
ME-2Michaud Michaud
MD-1Kratovil Harris
MA-4Frank Frank
MA-5Tsongas Tsongas
MA-10 Keating
MI-1 Tossup/Tilt RBenishek
MI-7Schauer Walberg
MI-9Peters Peters
MN-1Walz Walz
MN-6Bachmann Bachmann
MN-8Oberstar Cravaack
MS-1Childers Nunnelee
MS-4Taylor Palazzo
MO-3Carnahan Carnahan
MO-4Skelton Hartzler
NE-2Terry Terry
NV-3Titus Heck
NH-1Shea-Porter Guinta
NH-2 Bass
NJ-3Adler Runyan
NJ-12Holt Holt
NM-1Heinrich Heinrich
NM-2Teague Pearce
NY-1T. Bishop T. Bishop
NY-4McCarthy McCarthy
NY-13McMahon Grimm
NY-19Hall Hayworth
NY-20S. Murphy Gibson
NY-22Hinchey Hinchey
NY-23Owens Owens
NY-24Arcuri Hanna
NY-25Maffei Buerkle
NY-29Zeller Reed
NC-2Etheridge Ellmers
NC-7McIntyre McIntyre
NC-8Kissell Kissell
NC-11Shuler Shuler
ND-ALPomeroy Tossup/Tilt RBerg
OH-1Driehaus Chabot
OH-6Wilson Johnson
OH-12Tiberi Tiberi
OH-13Sutton Sutton
OH-15Kilroy Stivers
OH-16Boccieri Renacci
OH-18Space Gibbs
OR-1Wu Wu
OR-5Schrader Schrader
PA-3Dahlkemper Kelly
PA-4Altmire Altmire
PA-6Gerlach Gerlach
PA-7 Meehan
PA-8P. Murphy Fitzpatrick
PA-10Carney Marino
PA-11Kanjorski Barletta
PA-12Critz Critz
PA-15Dent Dent
PA-17Holden Holden
RI-1 Cicilline
SC-5Spratt Mulvaney
SD-ALHerseth Sandlin Noem
TN-4Davis DesJarlais
TN-6 Black
TN-8 Fincher
TX-17Edwards Flores
TX-23Rodriguez Canseco
TX-27Ortiz Farenthold
VA-2Nye Rigell
VA-5Perriello Hurt
VA-9Boucher Griffith
VA-11Connolly Connolly
WA-2Larsen Larsen
WA-3 Herrera
WA-8Reichert Reichert
WV-1 Pure tossupMcKinley
WV-3Rahall Rahall
WI-3Kind Kind
WI-7 Duffy
WI-8Kagen Ribble
DistrictIncumbentCookRothenbergCQ PoliticsSabato's Crystal
Ball		RealClearWinner

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 Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

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. These delegates are not allowed to vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.