1994 United States House of Representatives elections

1994 United States House of Representatives elections
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives; 218 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Democratic hold Democratic gain; Republican hold Republican gain; Independent hold
Speaker before election; Tom Foley; Democratic	Elected Speaker ; Newt Gingrich; Republican

The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 8, 1994, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 104th United States Congress. They occurred in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term. In what was known as the Republican Revolution, a 54-seat swing in membership from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party resulted in the latter gaining a majority of seats in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1952. It was also the largest seat gain for the party since 1946, and the largest for either party since 1948, and characterized a political realignment in American politics.

Quick Facts All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

Close

Democrats had run the House since 1955, and for all but four years (1947–49 and 1953–55) since 1931. But in 1994, the Republican Party ran against President Clinton's proposed healthcare reform.^[1] The Republicans argued that Clinton had abandoned the centrist New Democrat platform he campaigned on during the 1992 presidential election and reverted to big government solutions. The GOP ran on Newt Gingrich's Contract with America.

The incumbent Speaker of the House, Democrat Tom Foley, lost re-election in his district, becoming the first sitting speaker to be defeated since Galusha Grow in 1863.^[2] Other major upsets included the defeat of powerful long-serving representatives such as Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski and Judiciary chairman Jack Brooks. In all, 34 incumbents, all Democrats, were defeated. Republicans also won a number of seats held by retiring Democrats. No Republican incumbents lost re-election, but Democrats won four open Republican-held seats. NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent was elected in Oklahoma and singer Sonny Bono was elected in California.

Robert H. Michel, the Republican minority leader, chose to retire due to pressure from the more conservative members of the Republican caucus. Dick Cheney had served as the Minority Whip and Michel supported having Edward Rell Madigan replace him, but the position was instead given to Gingrich, who would later be selected to become speaker.^[3] The incumbent Democratic majority leader, Dick Gephardt, became minority leader. The new House leadership, under the Republicans, promised to bring a dozen legislative proposals to a vote in the first 100 days of the session, although the Senate did not always follow suit.

In a significant political realignment, the South underwent a dramatic transformation. Before the election, House Democrats outnumbered House Republicans in the South. Afterwards, with the Republicans having picked up a total of 19 Southern seats, they were able to outnumber Democrats in the South for the first time since Reconstruction.^[4] The Republicans would go on to remain the majority party of the House for the following 12 years, until the 2006 elections. The Republicans have won at least 200 seats in almost every House election since, with the exceptions of 2008 and 2018.

As of 2024^[update], this is the last congressional election in which Democrats won a House seat in Montana, as well as the last time Republicans won any House seats in Massachusetts.

Remove ads

Voting patterns

Republican gains, 1992–1994

More information Category, % Rep. 1992 ...

Category	% Rep. 1992	% Rep. 1994	% shift to Republican 1992–94	size of group % /all
Southern whites	53	65	12	24
White men	51	62	11	40
White "born again" Christian	66	76	10	20
Whites 30–44 years old	51	61	10	28
Independents	46	56	10	24
White Protestants	57	66	9	41
Whites 60 and over	46	55	9	26
Whites	50	58	8	79
Men 30–44 years old	49	57	8	17
Republicans	85	93	8	35
Income under $15,000	31	38	7	11
Conservatives	72	79	7	34
Men 60 and over	44	51	7	12
Whites 45-59	52	59	7	23
Men	48	54	6	49
High school education	42	48	6	22
Some college	47	53	6	32
White women	49	55	6	40
Unmarried men	42	48	6	14
Country on "wrong track"	--	67		59
Disapprove of Clinton	--	82		49
1992 Perot voters	--	67		12

Close

Source: Data from exit-poll surveys by Voter Research and Surveys and Mitofsky International published in The New York Times, November 13, 1994, p. 24.

Religious right

Evangelicals were an important group within the electorate and a significant voting block in the Republican party. The national exit poll by Mitofsky International showed 27% of all voters identified themselves as a born-again or evangelical Christians, up from 18% in 1988 and 24% in 1992. Republican House candidates outpolled Democrats among white evangelicals by a massive 52 points, 76% to 24%.^[5]

According to a survey sponsored by the Christian Coalition, 33 percent of the 1994 voters were "religious conservatives," up from 24 percent in 1992 and 18 percent in 1988 (CQ Weekly Report), November 19, 1994, p. 3364; in the 1994 exit poll, 38 percent identified themselves as "conservatives," compared with 30 percent in 1992.^[6]

Party identification and ideology by selected religious groups 1994

More information Party identification, Political ideology ...

	Party identification		Political ideology
Religion	Democratic	Republican	Liberal	Moderate	Conservative
White evangelical	20	54	6	33	61
Highly religious	34	39	15	48	37
Secular	44	27	31	47	22
Jewish	57	13	36	50	14
All voters	41	35	18	47	35

Close

Source: Mitofsky International exit poll in Klinkner, p. 121.

Remove ads

Overall results

Ross Perot's organization United We Stand America issued a report card for each member of Congress. 169 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and one independent received a failing grade. Perot went on Larry King Live in October and called for the Democrats to lose their majority in the U.S. House. He endorsed the Republican opponent of Speaker Tom Foley.^[7]

↓
204	1	230
Democratic	I	Republican

More information Party, Seats ...

Party		Seats			Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
Party		1992	Elected	Net change	Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
	Republican	176	230	54	52.9%	51.5%	36,325,809
	Democratic	258	204	54	46.9%	44.7%	31,542,823
	Independent	1	1		0.2%	0.7%	497,403
	Libertarian	0	0		0.0%	0.6%	415,944
	Conservative	0	0		0.0%	0.4%	302,735
	U.S. Taxpayers'	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	90,793
	Right to Life	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	70,526
	Peace and Freedom	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	63,450
	Natural Law	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	62,556
	Green Party	0	0		0.0%	0.1%	40,177
	Others	0	0		0.0%	1.5%	1,081,432
Totals		435	435		100.0%	100.0%	70,493,648

Close

Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

More information Popular vote ...

Popular vote

Republican			51.53%
Democratic			44.75%
Libertarian			0.59%
Others			3.13%

Close

More information House seats ...

House seats

Republican			52.87%
Democratic			46.90%
Others			0.23%

Close

Maps

Popular vote by states
House results shaded by winners share of vote
House seats by party holding plurality in state
Net changes to U.S. House seats after the 1994 elections

Remove ads

Incumbents defeated

In primary elections

Democrats

Oklahoma 2: Mike Synar lost to Virgil R. Cooper, who later lost the general election to Republican Tom Coburn
Pennsylvania 2: Lucien E. Blackwell lost to Chaka Fattah, who later won the general election
Texas 18: Craig Washington lost to Sheila Jackson Lee, who later won the general election

Republicans

New York 4: David A. Levy lost to Dan Frisa, who later won the general election

In the general elections

Democrats

Thirty-four incumbent Democrats (including 16 "freshmen") were defeated in 1994. Democrats from Washington lost the most seats (5).

Republicans

None.

Remove ads

Open seats that changed parties

Democratic seats won by Republicans

22 open seats previously held by Democrats were won by Republicans.

Republican seats won by Democrats

Democrats won four open seats previously held by Republicans.

Remove ads

Open seats that parties held

Democratic seats held

Democrats held nine of their open seats.

Republican seats held

Republicans held 17 of their open seats.

Remove ads

Special elections

More information District, Predecessor ...

District	Predecessor	Party	First elected	Results Sorted by election date	Candidates
Oklahoma 6	Glenn English	Democratic	1974	Incumbent resigned January 7, 1994 to become vice president and general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Winner elected May 10, 1994. Republican gain. Winner was subsequently re-elected in November.	▌Y Frank Lucas (Republican) 54.2% ▌Dan Webber (Democratic) 45.9%
Kentucky 2	William Natcher	Democratic	1953 (Special)	Incumbent died March 29, 1994. Winner elected May 24, 1994. Republican gain. Winner was subsequently re-elected in November.	▌Y Ron Lewis (Republican) 55.1% ▌Joe Prather (Democratic) 44.8% ▌James E. Rice (Independent) 0.1%