The Republican Revolution of 1994

(Politico) Last night was a historic night for the election of 2010.  The Republicans made dramatic gains in the House of Representatives but the Democrats retained their seats in the Senate.  (Tomorrow I'll list the results of last night's election)  Sixteen years ago on November 8, 1994, there was another "revolution" taking place when the Republican Party won control over both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years.  The Republicans were in control of the U.S. Senate from 1981-87 when Ronald Reagan was president.  November 8, 1994 was the first time Republicans won control of the House since 1954. Bill Clinton was in his first term as president.  He was pushing a left-wing agenda upon America.  He started with trying to change the military's policy of banning homosexuals in the U.S. military.  The results of that was a compromise of "Don't, ask, don't tell."  During his second year in the White House (1994), Clinton and his wife Hillary, were trying to pass nationalized health care.  Thankfully, that bill died that year in the Senate.  Also, religious conservatives such as the Christian Coalition were mobilizing and supporting candidates who claimed they were for moral and religious values.

The newly empowered GOP united under the "Contract with America," a 10-point legislative plan to cut federal taxes, balance the budget and dismantle a host of welfare programs enacted and expanded during the decades of Democratic rule.  Former Republican Minority Whip New Gingrich was elected as Speaker of the House.  He replaced former House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA), who not only lost his position as Speaker when the Republicans won the House, but Foley also lost the election in his district as well.  He was the first House Speaker since the Civil War to lose re-election in his district.  Republicans that year picked up 54 seats in the House. 

Within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, the Gingrich-led House enacted every bill cited in the Contract with America, except a proposed constitutional amendment mandating term limits for members of Congress.  In furthering what the press quickly dubbed the "Republican Revolution," Gingrich and his newly emboldened conservative allies capitalized on the perception that the House Democratic leadership had engaged in corrupt practices, as well as on broad dissatisfaction among independent voters with the policies of President Clinton.  There were no Republican incumbents who lost in 1994.  There were 34 Democratic incumbents who were defeated.  Several of them, such as Reps. David Price (N.C.), Ted Strickland (Ohio) and Jay Inslee (Wash.), regainted seats in subsequent contests.  As I mentioned earlier about Christian conservatives, Evangelicals played a major role in the massive swing toward the Republicans.  One national poll showed 27 percent of all voters identified themselves as a born-again or evangelical Christian, compared with 18 percent in 1988. 

Some of the major upsets in the House in 1994 were House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-ILL) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks (D-TX).  In the U.S. Senate, Jim Sasser (D-TN), lost his Senate seat.  Some Senators such as George Mitchell (D-ME), chose to resign.  In the Texas gubernatorial race, Democratic incumbent Ann Richards was defeated by George W. Bush, who would eventually be elected as president of the United States.  1994 was definitely a good election year for Republicans.  Following that election, the Republicans held their majority in the House until 2006 and the Republicans in the U.S. Senate (with the exception of a year and a half) held their majority until 2006.