The 1986 United States House of Representatives elections was held on November 4, 1986, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 100th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's second term in office, while he was still relatively popular with the American public. As in most mid-term elections, the President's party — in this case, the Republican Party — lost seats, with the Democratic Party gaining a net of five seats and cementing its majority. These results were not as dramatic as those in the Senate, where the Republicans lost control of the chamber to the Democrats.
Overall results
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
Retiring incumbents
Forty incumbents retired.
Democrats
Nineteen incumbent Democrats retired. : Richard Shelby: To run for U.S. senator : Tim Wirth: To run for U.S. senator : Don Fuqua : Wyche Fowler: To run for U.S. senator : Berkley Bedell : John Breaux: To run for U.S. senator : Catherine Small Long : Barbara Mikulski: To run for U.S. senator : Parren Mitchell : Michael D. Barnes: To run for U.S. senator : Tip O'Neill : Harry Reid: To run for U.S. senator : Stan Lundine: To run for Lieutenant Governor of New York : Charles Orville Whitley : John F. Seiberling : James R. Jones: To run for U.S. senator : Jim Weaver: To run for U.S. senator : Robert W. Edgar: To run for U.S. senator : Tom Daschle: To run for U.S. senator
Republicans
Twenty-one incumbent Republicans retired. : John McCain: To run for U.S. senator : Eldon Rudd : Eugene A. Chappie : Ed Zschau: To run for U.S. senator : Bobbi Fiedler: To run for U.S. senator : Ken Kramer: To run for U.S. senator : George M. O'Brien : John E. Grotberg : Elwood Hillis : T. Cooper Evans : Gene Snyder : Henson Moore: To run for U.S. senator : John R. McKernan Jr.: To run for Governor of Maine : Marjorie Holt : William Carney : Tom Kindness: To run for U.S. senator : Thomas F. Hartnett: To run for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina : Carroll A. Campbell Jr.: To run for Governor of South Carolina : Tom Loeffler: To run for Governor of Texas : David Smith Monson : G. William Whitehurst
Special elections
Sorted by election date
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
|-
! | Les Aspin | | Democratic | 1970 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Robert Kastenmeier | | Democratic | 1958 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Steve Gunderson | | Republican | 1980 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Jerry Kleczka | | Democratic | 1984 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Jim Moody | | Democratic | 1982 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Tom Petri | | Republican | 1979 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Dave Obey | | Democratic | 1969 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Toby Roth | | Republican | 1978 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|-
! | Jim Sensenbrenner | | Republican | 1978 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|}
Wyoming
Non-voting delegates
|-
! American Samoa at-large
| Fofō Iosefa Fiti Sunia
|
| 1980
| Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |- ! District of Columbia at-large | Walter Fauntroy | | 1970 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |- ! Guam at-large | Ben Blaz | | 1984 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |- ! U.S. Virgin Islands at-large | Ron de Lugo | | 19721978 (retired)1980 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |