Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1960

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On November 8, 1960, the House of Representatives in the United States was elected. The election was part of the general election for the 87th Congress of the United States that year, in which a third of the US Senators were elected. At the same time, the presidential election of 1960 took place, which the Democrat John F. Kennedy won.

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 50 states. ( Hawaii had since been added. A congressman had been elected two years earlier for the likewise new state of Alaska ). The number of MPs to be elected was temporarily 437 (the number of MPs was not adjusted to the regular number of 435 until the elections in 1962). The distribution of seats was based on the 1950 census . The 1960 congressional elections were the first to take place in all of the 50 states in existence today.

In the elections, the Democrats lost 18 seats compared to the last election in 1958. Nevertheless, with 264 seats, they were able to maintain their absolute majority. The Republicans caught up accordingly, but remained in the minority. The slight turnaround was due, among other things, to a recovery from an economic crisis. An important domestic issue was the conflict over the desegregation and the integration of African Americans into institutions that were previously reserved for whites only.

In the southern states in particular, the right to vote was still restricted by laws that linked it to a certain tax revenue. As a result, poor whites, but above all many African Americans, were excluded from the right to vote. These restrictions were criticized more and more, but still largely applied until the adoption of the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1964.

Election result

Distribution of seats in the 87th Congress
  
A total of 437 seats

Total: 437 (436)

The results of the last election two years earlier are shown in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not included in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 87th Congress in the section on the members of the House of Representatives under the relevant names of the representatives. The sources occasionally provide different information because changes during the legislative period were not incorporated into the figures in a uniform manner.

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