1916 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 65th United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 7, 1916, while Maine held theirs on September 11. They coincided with the re-election of President Woodrow Wilson.

Quick Facts All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

1916 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1914 November 7, 1916[lower-alpha 1] 1918 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Champ Clark James Mann Party Democratic Republican Leader since March 4, 1909 March 4, 1911 Leader's seat Missouri 9th Illinois 2nd Last election 230 seats 196 seats Seats won 214[lower-alpha 2] 215[lower-alpha 3] Seat change 16 19 Popular vote 7,641,274 8,052,247 Percentage 45.64% 48.09% Swing 3.68% 5.47%   Third party Fourth party   Party Progressive Socialist Last election 6 seats 1 seat Seats won 3 1 Seat change 3 Popular vote 131,103[lower-alpha 4] 604,304 Percentage 0.78% 3.61% Swing 7.22% 0.93%   Fifth party Sixth party   Party Prohibition Independent Last election 1 seat 1 seat Seats won 1 1 [lower-alpha 5] Seat change Popular vote 248,451 65,586 Percentage 1.48% 0.39% Swing 0.20% 0.16%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain      Progressive hold      Progressive gain      Prohibition hold      Socialist hold
Speaker before election Champ Clark Democratic Elected Speaker Champ Clark Democratic

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Wilson eked out a narrow re-election, but his Democratic Party lost seats to the Republican Party. Wilson's hybrid approach, which injected a progressive element into Democratic policies, had proved to be dissatisfying to much of the nation. International affairs also became important in the traditionally non-interventionist United States, as voters attempted to determine which party would be best served to keep the nation from entering The Great War.

Republicans won a plurality of seats in the 1916 election. However, when the 65th Congress convened in April 1917, the Democrats narrowly maintained control of the House, forming an alliance with third-party (Progressive and Socialist) members. Not since the 34th Congress (1855–1857) had the party with the most seats not been part of the ruling government. This Congress is the last example to date of a type of coalition holding power in the House, rather than a single party winning a majority of seats. This was also the last time that no party in the house held an overall majority

Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, became the first woman ever elected to congress.

This section does not cite any sources. (September 2023)

More information State, Type ...

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic		Progressive		Republican		Others
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District[lower-alpha 7]	10	10		0		0		0
Arizona	At-large	1	1		0		0		0
Arkansas	District	7	7		0		0		0
California	District	11	4	1	1	1	5	1	1[lower-alpha 8]	1
Colorado	District	4	3		0		1		0
Connecticut	District	5	1	1	0		4	1	0
Delaware	At-large	1	1	1	0		0	1	0
Florida	District	4	4		0		0		0
Georgia	District	12	12		0		0		0
Idaho	At-large	2	0		0		2		0
Illinois	District +2 at-large	27	6	4	0	1	21	5	0
Indiana	District	13	4	7	0		9	7	0
Iowa	District	11	0	1	0		11	1	0
Kansas	District	8	5	1	0		3	1	0
Kentucky	District	11	9		0		2		0
Louisiana	District	8	7	1	1	1	0		0
Maine[lower-alpha 9]	District	4	0	1	0		4	1	0
Maryland	District	6	4	1	0		2	1	0
Massachusetts	District	16	4		0		12		0
Michigan	District	13	1	1	0		12	1	0
Minnesota	District	10	1		0	1	9	1	0
Mississippi	District	8	8		0		0		0
Missouri	District	16	14		0		2		0
Montana	At-large	2	1	1	0		1	1	0
Nebraska	District	6	3		0		3		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0		0		1		0
New Hampshire	District	2	0	2	0		2	2	0
New Jersey	District	12	3	1	0		9	1	0
New Mexico	At-large	1	1	1	0		0	1	0
New York	District	43	16	3	0	1	26	4	1[lower-alpha 10]
North Carolina	District	10	10	1	0		0	1	0
North Dakota	District	3	0		0		3		0
Ohio	District	22	13	4	0		9	4	0
Oklahoma	District	8	6	1	0		2	1	0
Oregon	District	3	0		0		3		0
Pennsylvania	District +4 at-large	36	6		1	1	29	1	0
Rhode Island	District	3	1		0		2		0
South Carolina	District	7	7		0		0		0
South Dakota	District	3	1		0		2		0
Tennessee	District	10	8		0		2		0
Texas	District +2 at-large	18	18		0		0		0
Utah	District	2	2	1	0		0	1	0
Vermont	District	2	0		0		2		0
Virginia	District	10	9		0		1		0
Washington	District	5	1	1	0	2	4	1	0
West Virginia	District[lower-alpha 7]	6	2	1	0		4	1	0
Wisconsin	District	11	0	3	0		11	3	0
Wyoming	At-large	1	0		0		1		0
Total		435	214 49.2%	16	3 0.7%	2	216[lower-alpha 11] 49.7%	19	2[lower-alpha 12] 0.5%	1

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The Democrats retained control of the House by forming a coalition with the three Progressive members and the single Socialist member, combining to form a razor-thin majority of 218 Representatives.

More information House seats by party holding plurality in state, Net gain in party representation ...

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Maine held its election early, on September 11, 1916. There had previously been multiple states with earlier elections, but between 1914 and 1958, Maine was alone in holding early elections.

There were special elections in 1916 to the 64th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

This was the last time Montana used an at-large district until its representation was reduced to one in 1992. This was also the first time a woman was elected to Congress.