The 2004 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 2, 2004, to elect all 435 seats of the chamber. It coincided with the re-election of President George W. Bush as well as many Senate elections and gubernatorial elections. Prior to the election in the 108th Congress, Republicans held 227 seats, Democrats held 205, with two Republican vacancies and one independent. As a result of this election, the 109th Congress began composed of 232 Republicans, 201 Democrats, one independent (who caucuses with the Democrats), and one vacancy (Democrat Bob Matsui won reelection but died just two days before the beginning of the 109th Congress).
Democrats won open seats in Colorado, South Dakota, and New York while ousting incumbents in Georgia and Illinois. Republicans won an open seat in Kentucky while ousting an incumbent in Indiana. They gained five seats in Texas after a controversial mid-decade redistricting placed several rural Democratic incumbents into new districts. Two seats in Louisiana swapped party control.
, this is the last election in which someone who was not from the Democratic or Republican Party was elected to the House (Independent Bernie Sanders). Republicans would not make consecutive net gains in the House (after gaining seats in the 2002 election) until 2020 and 2022. This was also the last election in which the Republicans made any gains in a presidential election year until 2020.
<onlyinclude> |- ! rowspan= 2 colspan=2 | Parties ! colspan=4 | Seats ! colspan=3 | Popular vote |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! 2002 ! 2004 ! Net<br />change ! Strength ! Vote ! % ! Change |- | style="background-color:" | ! Republican Party | 229 | 232 | 3 | 53.3% | 55,958,144 | 49.4% | -0.6% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Democratic Party | 205 | 202 | 3 | 46.4% | 52,969,786 | 46.8% | +1.6% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Libertarian Party | â | â | â | â | 1,056,844 | 0.9% | -0.5% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Independent | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.2% | 674,202 | 0.6% | +0.1% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Green Party | â | â | â | â | 344,549 | 0.3% | -0.1% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Constitution Party | â | â | â | â | 187,006 | 0.2% | - |- | style="background-color:" | ! Reform Party | â | â | â | â | 85,539 | 0.1% | +0.1% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Independence Party | â | â | â | â | 76,053 | 0.1% | +0.1% |- | style="background-color:" | ! Others | â | â | â | â | 1,840,163 | 1.6% | -0.6% |- ! colspan=2 | Total ! 434 ! 435 ! 0 ! 100.0% ! 113,192,286 ! 100.0% ! â |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | style="text-align:left" colspan=9 | Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk </onlyinclude>
In the November general elections, thirty incumbents did not seek re-election, either to retire or to seek other positions.
Thirteen Democrats did not seek re-election.
Seventeen Republicans did not seek re-election.
Two seats opened early due to resignations and were not filled until the November elections.
No Democrats resigned.
Two Republicans resigned.
Two Democrats lost renomination.
No Republicans lost renomination. This was the first time this had occurred since 1984.
Five Democrats lost re-election to Republicans.
Two Republicans lost re-election to Democrats.
Three Democratic seats were won by Republicans.
Three Republican seats were won by Democrats.
Democrats held nine of their open seats.
Republicans held sixteen of their open seats.
Of the thirty-two seats created in the 2003 Texas redistricting, three had no incumbent representative.
No Democrats were elected in newly created seats.
Three Republicans were elected in newly created seats.
Twenty-three races were decided by 10% or lower.
There were three special elections held in 2004, all of them separate from the November elections.
|- ! | Ernie Fletcher | | Republican | nowrap | 1998 | | Incumbent resigned December 8, 2003 to become Governor of Kentucky.<br />New member elected February 17, 2004.<br />Democratic gain.<br />Winner was subsequently re-elected in November, see below. | nowrap | |- ! | Bill Janklow | | Republican | nowrap | 2002 | | Incumbent resigned January 20, 2004 when convicted of vehicular manslaughter.<br />New member elected June 1, 2004.<br />Democratic gain.<br />Winner was subsequently re-elected in November, see below. | nowrap | |- ! | Frank Ballance | | Democratic | nowrap | 2002 | | Incumbent resigned June 11, 2004 due to health issues.<br />New member elected July 20, 2004.<br />Democratic hold.<br />Winner was subsequently re-elected in November, see below. | nowrap |
On December 4, 2004, a run-off election was held to determine the winner of the 3rd and 7th congressional districts. In the 3rd district, Charlie Melançon narrowly defeated Billy Tauzin III. In the 7th district, Charles Boustany defeated Willie Mount. Thus, both seats switched to the opposite party.
All incumbents were re-elected.
All seven incumbents who ran for re-election, none of whom faced viable challengers, were returned to Congress. None received less than 60% of the vote, and one received over 80%. In addition, the two seats vacated by retiring Republicans were both reclaimed by Republicans despite Democratic hopes to gain at least one seat in the vulnerable 8th district.