1968 United States elections

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1968 United States elections
1966          1967         1968         1969          1970
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 5
Incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
Next Congress 91st
Presidential election
Partisan controlRepublican gain
Popular vote marginRepublican +0.7%
Electoral vote
Richard Nixon (R)301
Hubert Humphrey (D)191
George Wallace (AI)46
ElectoralCollege1968.svg
1968 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Nixon, blue denotes states won by Humphrey, and orange denotes states won by Wallace. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contested34 of 100 seats
Net seat changeRepublican +5
1968 United States Senate elections results map.svg
1968 Senate results

  Democratic gain  Democratic hold

  Republican gain  Republican hold
House elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contestedAll 435 voting members
Popular vote marginDemocratic +1.7%
Net seat changeRepublican +5
1968 House Districts.png
1968 House of Representatives results

  Democratic gain  Democratic hold

  Republican gain  Republican hold
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested22 (21 states, 1 territory)
Net seat changeRepublican +5
1968 United States gubernatorial elections results map.svg
1968 gubernatorial election results
Territorial races not shown

  Democratic gain  Democratic hold

  Republican gain  Republican hold

The 1968 United States elections were held on November 5, and elected members of the 91st United States Congress. The election took place during the Vietnam War, in the same year as the Tet Offensive, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and the protests of 1968. The Republican Party won control of the presidency, and picked up seats in the House and Senate, although the Democratic Party retained control of Congress. [1]

In the presidential election, Republican former Vice President Richard Nixon defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. [2] Nixon won the popular vote by less than one point, but took most states outside the Northeast, and comfortably won the electoral vote. Former Alabama Governor George Wallace, of the American Independent Party, took 13.5% of the popular vote, and won the electoral votes of the Deep South. After incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson declined to seek re-election, Humphrey won the Democratic nomination over Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy and South Dakota Senator George McGovern at the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention. Nixon won the Republican nomination over New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and California Governor Ronald Reagan. As of 2022, Wallace is the most recent third-party candidate to win a state's entire share of electoral votes. Nixon became the first former (non-sitting) vice president to win a presidential election.

The Republican Party won a net gain of five seats in both the House and the Senate. However, the Democratic Party retained strong majorities in both houses of Congress. In the gubernatorial elections, the Republican Party picked up a net gain of five governorships. This was the second consecutive election where the winning presidential party had coattails in both houses of Congress and the first for Republicans since 1952.

This was the first of two times since 1889 that a newly elected President's party failed to control either house of Congress.

See also

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References

  1. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1968" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  2. "1968 Presidential Election". United Press International . Retrieved 8 October 2011.