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Historical US House Election Results
Government & Civic Records
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About
A detailed record of US House of Representatives constituency returns spanning nearly five decades, from 1976 through 2022. The data focuses explicitly on election results at the district level and includes crucial metrics such as candidate votes and total votes recorded. This collection serves as an essential resource for historical political analysis and understanding trends in American elections. The resource is complemented by insights into how Americans experience the election process, drawing context from efforts like the Survey of the Performance of American Elections (SPAE), which has tracked voter experience since 2008.
Columns
The dataset contains 20 distinct columns detailing the election results:
- year: The year the election took place, ranging from 1976 to 2022.
- state: The name of the state (e.g., NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA).
- state_po: The official two-letter State Code (e.g., NY, CA).
- state_fips: The State Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code.
- state_cen: The Census Bureau's internal state code.
- state_ic: The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) state code.
- office: The office contested (consistently US HOUSE).
- district: The number of the congressional district, ranging from 0 to 53.
- stage: The phase of the election, primarily General Elections (GEN).
- runoff: A Boolean flag indicating if the result was part of a runoff election.
- special: A Boolean flag indicating if the election was a special election (approximately 90 records).
- candidate: The name or identifier of the candidate (e.g., WRITEIN, OTHER).
- party: The candidate's political affiliation (e.g., DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN).
- writein: A Boolean flag indicating if the candidate was a write-in (approximately 8% of records).
- mode: The method of vote tabulation (consistently TOTAL).
- candidatevotes: The number of votes received by the specific candidate.
- totalvotes: The total number of votes cast in the district contest.
- unofficial: A Boolean flag indicating if the results were unofficial.
- version: The specific version date of the data.
- fusion_ticket: A Boolean flag indicating if the candidate ran on a fusion ticket (approximately 8% of records).
Distribution
The data is delivered in a CSV file named
house.csv, weighing 4.02 MB. It is structured across 20 columns and contains 32.5 thousand valid records. The results are expected to be updated annually. Most critical fields show no missing or mismatched values.Usage
This data product is ideal for several applications, including:
- Historical Analysis: Tracking shifts in political dominance and voter behaviour over nearly 50 years.
- Election Modelling: Developing predictive models for future US House elections using historical performance data.
- Academic Research: Studying the impact of district demographics and election rules on outcomes.
- Data Journalism: Creating visualisations and reports on district-level voting patterns and candidate performance.
Coverage
The scope covers all US House of Representatives Election Results spanning the period 1976 to 2022. The dataset provides constituency (district) returns, including detailed results for states like New York and California, which represent the largest proportion of the recorded data. The data predominantly captures results from General Elections, though results from 90 Special Elections are also included.
License
CC0: Public Domain
Who Can Use It
- Political Scientists: To study electoral dynamics and district-level political shifts in the United States.
- Historians: For documenting and understanding the political history of the House of Representatives.
- Election Modellers: To train and validate forecasts of congressional races.
- Public Policy Researchers: To correlate election results with legislative activities or demographic changes.
Dataset Name Suggestions
- US Congressional District Returns (1976–2022)
- Historical US House Election Results
- US Federal Constituency Vote Chronicle
- District-Level US House Election Data
Attributes
Original Data Source: Historical US House Election Results
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