House elections for the 81st U.S. Congress
1948 United States House of Representatives elections|
|
|
|
Majority party
|
Minority party
|
|
|
|
Leader
|
Sam Rayburn
|
Joseph Martin
|
Party
|
Democratic
|
Republican
|
Leader since
|
September 16, 1940
|
January 3, 1939
|
Leader's seat
|
Texas 4th
|
Massachusetts 14th
|
Last election
|
188 seats
|
246 seats
|
Seats won
|
263
|
171
|
Seat change
|
75
|
75
|
Popular vote
|
24,217,516
|
20,894,960
|
Percentage
|
52.6%
|
45.4%
|
Swing
|
7.6%
|
8.1%
|
|
|
Third party
|
|
|
|
|
Party
|
American Labor
|
|
Last election
|
1 seat
|
|
Seats won
|
1
|
|
Seat change
|
|
|
Popular vote
|
409,789
|
|
Percentage
|
0.9%
|
|
Swing
|
0.3%
|
|
|
|
|
The 1948 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 81st United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 2, 1948, while Maine held theirs on September 13. These elections coincided with President Harry S. Truman's election to a full term. Truman had campaigned against a "do-nothing"' Republican Party Congress that had opposed his initiatives and was seen as counterproductive. The Democratic Party regained control of both the House and Senate in this election.[2][3][4] For Democrats, this was their largest gain since 1932. These were the last elections until 1980 when a member of a political party other than the Democrats, Republicans, or an independent had one or more seats in the chamber. As of 2023[update], this is the last time the Democrats gained more than 50 seats in a U.S. House election.