The election occurred in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term.

[2] Democrats won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 8.9 percentage points, but lost fifteen seats to Republicans.

Clinton's eventual successor as president, George W. Bush, ran as the Republican nominee in Texas's 19th congressional district but was defeated by Democrat Kent Hance, while future president Joe Biden was elected to his second term as Senator from Delaware.

The election also ended the possibility of a ratification of the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union.

Carter's move to the center after this election encouraged a 1980 Democratic primary challenge by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.