The 10 con­gres­sion­al races in his­to­ry with the slimmest mar­gins of vic­to­ry

The last dis­trict to be called, the race was decid­ed by just 187 votes sep­a­rat­ing incum­bent Rep. John Duarte (R‑CA) and chal­lenger Adam Gray, who flipped the seat into Demo­c­ra­t­ic con­trol in a big win for the par­ty. The vic­to­ry gives Democ­rats one net win and nar­rows House Repub­li­cans’ major­i­ty to just three seats at the begin­ning of next year. 

The race was the tight­est mar­gin of all the House races in the 2024 cycle, and the results were not called by the Asso­ci­at­ed Press until near­ly a month after Elec­tion Day. 

Miller-Meeks had anoth­er close race in the 2024 cycle, win­ning by just under 800 votes, accord­ing to the lat­est vote counts. That puts her at the No. 3 slot for clos­est House races in 2024, behind California’s 45th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict where Demo­c­rat Derek Tran defeat­ed GOP incum­bent Michelle Steel by 615 votes. 

Here are some of the clos­est House races record­ed in his­to­ry, with sev­er­al com­ing down to just a sin­gle bal­lot: 

Mod­ern-day close mar­gins

Although not near­ly as close as the sin­gle-vote mar­gins in the 1800s, many nail-biter elec­tions have occurred in the last two decades.

Frank McCloskey vs. Richard McIn­tyre: Four votes

One of the clos­est races in the last 40 years was the race between Demo­c­rat Frank McCloskey and Repub­li­can Richard McIn­tyre in 1984.

McCloskey defeat­ed McIn­tyre by just four votes out of the 324,092 cast, giv­ing him a near-zero per­cent­age point advan­tage.

Mar­i­an­nette Miller-Meeks vs. Rita Hart: Six votes

Duarte’s race was one of the clos­est races in the last few years but pales in com­par­i­son to some of the tight­est mar­gins in House his­to­ry — even to Miller-Meeks’s first elec­tion bid when she won by just six votes in 2020. 

It was the clos­est fed­er­al elec­tion of the 2020 cycle as she defeat­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lenger Rita Hart 196,964 votes to 196,958.

Howard Coble vs Robin Britt: 79 votes

For­mer Rep. Howard Coble nar­row­ly won reelec­tion by less than 80 votes in 1986, defeat­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lenger Charles Rob Britt.

The final vote mar­gin was 72,409 votes to 72,327.

Joe Court­ney vs. Rob Sim­mons: 91 votes

For­mer Rep. Rob Sim­mons (R‑CT) was also locked in a tight race in 2006 when Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lenger Joe Court­ney came so close it trig­gered an auto­mat­ic recount.

The recount showed Court­ney with a vic­to­ry, defeat­ing the Repub­li­can incum­bent by 91 votes.

Mike Rogers vs. Dianne Byrum: 111 votes

One of the most con­test­ed House races was between Repub­li­can Mike Rogers and Demo­c­rat Dianne Byrum, notably was not set­tled until even after the pres­i­den­tial elec­tion of that year (which was set­tled on Dec. 13, 2000).

Byrum demand­ed a recount after the vote totals showed them just 160 votes apart, refus­ing to con­cede until that was com­plet­ed. A final vote count showed Rogers win­ning the race by 111 votes.

The race was cer­ti­fied on Dec. 15, 2000.

Lau­ren Boe­bert vs Adam Frisch: 546 votes

Rep. Lau­ren Boe­bert (R‑CO) also had a his­tor­i­cal­ly close race in the 2022 midterm elec­tions, defeat­ing her Demo­c­ra­t­ic chal­lenger, Adam Frisch, by only 546 votes in the clos­est race of that cycle.

The mar­gin was so close, that Boe­bert opt­ed to switch dis­tricts in 2024 rather than face Frisch in a rematch.

Oth­er his­tor­i­cal­ly close mar­gins

Some of the clos­est races in his­to­ry hap­pened in the first few decades of Con­gress.

Par­me­nio Adams vs. Isaac Wil­son: One vote

One of the clos­est races in House his­to­ry occurred in New York’s 29th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict in 1822 between Par­me­nio Adams and Isaac Wil­son. 

Ini­tial results showed Wil­son with the vic­to­ry, prompt­ing Adams to chal­lenge the mar­gins and request a recount. A recount lat­er showed Adams’s defeat­ing Wil­son by just one point. 

The final mar­gin was 2072 to 2071 votes.

Nicholas Cole­man vs. Adam Beat­ty: One vote

A sim­i­lar mar­gin hap­pened just years lat­er in Kentucky’s 2nd Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict when Nicholas Cole­man won by just a sin­gle vote against Adam Beat­ty in 1829.

He only served one term before mov­ing back to Mis­sis­sip­pi to prac­tice law. 

Charles Smith vs. DeAl­va Alexan­der: One vote

There was anoth­er one-vote mar­gin in 1911 in the fight for New York’s 33rd Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict. 

Charles B. Smith defeat­ed incum­bent DeAl­va Alexan­der by just one vote, with the final mar­gin com­ing out to 20,685 to 20,684 votes. 

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George Scott vs. T.J. Steele: Four votes

Just a few years lat­er, anoth­er close race deter­mined the vic­to­ry in Iowa’s 11th Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict in 1918.

George Scott defeat­ed T.J. Steele by just four votes, with the final mar­gin com­ing out to 26,033 to 26,029 votes.