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meets with Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer (then House Minority Leader and Minority Whip, respectively) at the Oval Office in the White House . The President congratulated Pelosi and Hoyer on their newfound majority and vowed to work with them until his presidency is over. Regarding Pelosi's elevation to the Speaker Of The House , Bush commented "This is a historic moment".]] Elections for the United States House Of Representatives were held on November 7 2006 , with all of the 435 seats in the House up for election. Since Representatives are elected for two-year terms, those elected will serve in the 110th United States Congress from January 3 2007 until January 3 2009 . On election day, Democrats gained 31 seats in the House, enough to take control, and Republicans became the minority party after 12 years of control. In addition, two seats went to December runoffs, and one seat was still unresolved at the opening of the new Congress. In one runoff in Louisiana , a Democratic incumbent defeated a Democratic challenger. In a runoff in Texas , a Democratic challenger defeated a Republican incumbent. The Republican candidate in the Florida 13th was eventually certified as the winner, and was seated by the House pending judicial and congressional investigation into voting machine irregularities. DEMOCRATIC SWEEP The final result was a thirty-seat pickup for the Democrats, including the pickup of the Vermont At-Large seat, previously held by Independent Bernie Sanders who caucused with the Democrats. Democrats defeated twenty-two Republican incumbents and won nine open Republican-held seats. Republicans won no seats previously held by Democrats in either the House or the Senate, and it was the largest seat gain for the Democrats since the 1974 Elections . It was the first time since the 1948 Elections that no Republicans won any Democratic seats. Among the new Democrats were the first Muslim in Congress ( Keith Ellison ) and the first two Buddhists ( Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson ). As a result of the Democratic victory, Nancy Pelosi became the first woman and the first Californian elected Speaker Of The House .
SITUATION PRIOR TO THE ELECTION As of November 7 , 2006 , the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans , 201 Democrats and 1 Independent (who caucuses with the Democrats). There were also four vacancies. Republicans held a 28 seat advantage, and Democrats needed to pick up 15 seats to take control of the House, which had had a Republican majority since January 1995. PREDICTIONS A number of organizations and individuals made predictions about the election, some for the House as a whole and some for both that and individual races. For the predictions just before the election occurred, ''see United States House Elections, 2006 - Predictions . | |||||||||||||||
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