1976 United States elections

The 1976 United States elections was held on November 2, and elected the members of the 95th United States Congress. The Democratic Party won the presidential election and retained control of Congress.[1]

1976 United States elections

Presidential election year
Election day	November 2
Incumbent president	Gerald Ford (Republican)
Next Congress	95th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Democratic gain
Popular vote margin	Democratic +2.1%
Electoral vote
Jimmy Carter (D)	297
Gerald Ford (R)	240
1976 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Ford, blue denotes states won by Carter. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	34 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Republican +1
1976 Senate results   Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican gain   Republican hold   Independent hold
House elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	All 435 voting members
Popular vote margin	Democratic +13.6%
Net seat change	Democratic +1
1976 House of Representatives results   Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican gain   Republican hold
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	15 (14 states, 1 territories)
Net seat change	Democratic +1
1976 gubernatorial election results Territorial races not shown   Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican gain   Republican hold

Democratic Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia defeated Republican incumbent President Gerald Ford.[2] Carter won the popular vote by two points and finished with 297 electoral votes, taking a mix of Southern and Northern states. Ford, who had taken office after the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon in 1974, defeated California Governor Ronald Reagan to take the Republican nomination. The convention nominated Kansas Senator Bob Dole as Ford's running mate, instead of sitting Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Carter defeated a slew of competitors in the 1976 Democratic primaries, including California Governor Jerry Brown, Alabama Governor George Wallace, Arizona Congressman Mo Udall, Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson, and Idaho Senator Frank Church.

Neither the House nor Senate saw major changes in partisan composition, so the Democrats retained control of Congress. Democrats won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 13.6 percentage points.[3]

In the gubernatorial elections, the Democratic Party picked up one seat.