The 1966 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 8, 1966, to elect members to serve in the 90th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of President Lyndon B. Johnson's second term. As the Vietnam War continued to escalate and race riots exploded in cities across the country, Johnson's popularity had fallen, and the opposition Republican Party was able to gain a net of 47 seats from Johnson's Democratic Party, which nonetheless maintained a clear majority in the House. This was also the first election that occurred after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law, the first time since 1870 that a Republican won a House seat in Arkansas, and the first since 1876 that the party did so in South Carolina (after the same in a 1965 special election for the seat).

Republican gains

• Alaska's at-large congressional district: four-term Democratic incumbent Ralph Rivers was defeated by Republican State Senator Howard Pollock.
• Arizona's 3rd congressional district: sophomore Democrat George F. Senner Jr. was defeated by state legislator Sam Steiger.
• Arkansas's 3rd congressional district: lumber executive and Arkansas GOP chair John Paul Hammerschmidt defeated incumbent James William Trimble, becoming the first Republican member of Arkansas' congressional delegation since Reconstruction.
• California's 18th congressional district: onetime Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias defeated seven-term Democratic incumbent Harlan Hagen.
• California's 25th congressional district: Charles E. Wiggins defeated incumbent Democrat Ronald B. Cameron.
• California's 33rd congressional district: Jerry Pettis defeated incumbent Kenneth W. Dyal.
• Texas's 7th congressional district: businessman and 1964 U.S. Senate candidate George H. W. Bush defeated Democratic challenger Frank Briscoe for the seat vacated by John Dowdy (whose district had been renumbered the second).
• Texas's 18th congressional district: Bob Price succeeded retiring Democrat Walter E. Rogers by defeating Dee Miller.

Special elections

Elections are listed by date and district.

Overall results

Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

¹ One vacancy due to refusal of House to seat Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (D-New York)

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Florida redistricted to adjust for demographic changes; in addition to minor boundary changes a district was removed from northern Florida, and Broward County was broken out into its own district.

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Indiana redistricted for this election, election boundary changes forced two Republican incumbents into the same district while creating a new district that was won by another Republican.

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Maryland redistricted its at-large district into an 8th district around Montgomery County, managing to adjust boundaries so no existing incumbents were displaced.

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Ohio redistricted its at-large seat into a 24th district, splitting out the counties to the southwest of Dayton from the city itself, as well as moving a district in southeastern Ohio into the Columbus area.

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Texas redistricted for this election, eliminating its at-large district and removing two East Texas districts in favor of adding three districts in South Texas, suburban Houston, and suburban Dallas.

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

See also

• 1966 United States elections
  • 1966 United States gubernatorial elections
  • 1966 United States Senate elections
• 89th United States Congress
• 90th United States Congress

References

Further reading

• ▌"1966 Elections–A Major Republican Comeback." in CQ Almanac 1966 (22nd ed., 1967) pp 1387–88. online
• Anderson, Totton J.; Lee, Eugene C. (1967). "The 1966 Election in California". The Western Political Quarterly. 20 (2): 535–554. doi:10.2307/446081. ISSN 0043-4078. JSTOR 446081., plus articles on the other western states in the same issue
• 1946 Congressional elections. Congressional Quarterly. 1998.
• Erikson, Robert J. (1972). "Malapportionment, Gerrymandering, and Party Fortunes in Congressional Elections". American Political Science Review. 66 (12–38): 1234–1245. doi:10.2307/1957176. JSTOR 1957176. S2CID 145806972., Focus on 1966
• Hathorn, Billy (1987–1988). "The Frustration of Opportunity: Georgia Republicans and the Election of 1966". Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South. 31 (4): 37–52.
• ▌McLay, Mark. "A High-Wire Crusade: Republicans and the War on Poverty, 1966." Journal of Policy History 31.3 (2019): 382–405.
• Sullivan, John L.; O'Connor, Robert E. (1972). "Electoral Choice and Popular Control of Public Policy: The Case of the 1966 House Elections". The American Political Science Review. 66 (4): 1256–1268. doi:10.2307/1957178. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1957178. S2CID 147328869.