The House of Representatives — Study Materials (119th Congress, 2026) Summary & Study Notes

🌐 Overview

The House of Representatives is one chamber of the bicameral U.S. Congress and currently has a fixed membership of 435 voting representatives. The House's structure, powers, and procedures are guided by the Constitution, federal law, and long-established practice.

🏛️ Reasons for Bicameralism

The framers created a bicameral legislature for three main reasons: history (models like the Roman Republic and British Parliament), the large-state/small-state compromise (Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan), and checks and balances (each chamber checks the other).

🗳️ Models of Representation

Members of the House often act according to different models of representation: Trustee (votes using personal judgment), Delegate (votes according to constituents' wishes), Politico (balances personal judgment and constituent pressure), and Partisan (votes with the political party).

📊 Apportionment & Reapportionment

The House's 435 seats are apportioned among states based on population. Congress, not the Constitution, set the fixed size at 435. The Constitution requires a decennial census to reapportion seats among the states every ten years.

🧮 District Size & Representation

Following the 2020 Census the average congressional district population was about 761,169 people (the textbook also approximates average district size near 765,000). Most states use single-member districts where one representative is elected per district under a winner-take-all system.

🧾 Qualifications & Terms

Article I, Section 2 sets the House's formal qualifications: a member must be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and be an inhabitant of the state they represent. Terms in the House are two years, with regular elections held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. Off-year elections occur in nonpresidential election years.

🗺️ Districts & Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the drawing of electoral districts to advantage a political party or group. The term comes from Governor Elbridge Gerry and first appeared in an 1812 cartoon. Gerrymandering affects representation and can dramatically change electoral outcomes.

⚖️ Exclusive Powers of the House

The Constitution grants the House several exclusive powers, including the power to initiate revenue (tax) bills, the power to impeach federal officials, and the power to elect the President if no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College.

🧭 Leadership in the 119th Congress

Key House leaders include Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Minority Whip Katherine Clark. The 119th Congress began with a narrow Republican majority (220–215).

💼 Compensation & Staff

Most Representatives receive a base salary of $174,000, unchanged since 2009 due to annual votes to forgo cost-of-living increases. The Twenty-seventh Amendment ensures that pay changes do not take effect until after the next election. House offices typically employ roughly half the staff size of a typical Senate office.

🌍 Non-Voting Members

Several U.S. territories and districts send non-voting delegates or a Resident Commissioner to the House, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico (Resident Commissioner), American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These members can serve on committees but cannot cast final floor votes for passage of legislation.

👩 Representation of Women

Women have steadily increased their presence in Congress. In recent Congresses, women made up more than a quarter of members, reaching record levels and continuing to reshape representation and policy priorities.