The 1978 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 7, 1978, to elect members to serve in the 96th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term, amidst an energy crisis and rapid inflation. The Democratic Party lost a net of 15 seats to the Republican Party, and thus lost their two-thirds supermajority, but still maintained a large 277-seat majority.
, this was the last midterm election where the Democrats managed to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives under a Democratic president, the last midterm election in which a registered third party member was elected, and the last time overall in which any party won at least 270 House seats.
382 incumbent members sought reelection, but 5 were defeated in primaries and 19 defeated in the general election for a total of 358 incumbents winning.
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
The seven incumbents were all automatically re-elected when no opponents filed to run against them in the Sept. 16 jungle primary. They did not appear on the ballot.
Leach and Wilson were the top two finishers in the 4th District's jungle primary and advanced to the Nov. 7 general election.
|- | | Les Aspin | | Democratic | 1970 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Robert Kastenmeier | | Democratic | 1958 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Alvin Baldus | | Democratic | 1974 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Clement J. Zablocki | | Democratic | 1948 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Henry S. Reuss | | Democratic | 1954 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | William A. Steiger | | Republican | 1966 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Dave Obey | | Democratic | 1969 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap |
|- | | Robert John Cornell | | Democratic | 1974 | | Incumbent lost re-election.<br/>Republican gain. | nowrap |
|- | | Bob Kasten | | Republican | 1974 | | Incumbent retired to run for Governor of Wisconsin.<br/>Republican hold. | nowrap |