# Republican Revolution

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The "Republican Revolution", "Revolution of '94", or "Gingrich Revolution" are political slogans that refer to the Republican Party's (GOP) success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and a pick-up of eight seats in the Senate. It was led by Newt Gingrich.

## History

Rather than campaigning independently in each district, Republican candidates chose to rally behind a single national program and message fronted by Georgia congressman and House Republican whip Newt Gingrich. They alleged that President Bill Clinton was not the "New Democrat" he claimed to be during his 1992 campaign, but was a "tax and spend" liberal. The Republicans offered an alternative to Clinton's policies in the form of the Contract with America.
The gains in seats in the mid-term election resulted in the Republicans gaining control of both the House and the Senate in January 1995. Republicans had not held the majority in the House for 40 years, since the 83rd Congress (elected in 1952). From 1933 to 1995, Republicans had controlled both House and Senate for only four years. From 1933 into the early 1970s, most white conservatives in the South belonged to the Democratic Party, and created the Solid South bloc in Congress. Most African Americans in the South were disenfranchised in those years, based on anti-Black laws and subjective administration of voter registration practices.
By the mid-1990s, white conservatives from the South joined Republicans in other parts of the country, leading to the change in Congress. Large Republican gains were made in state houses as well when the GOP picked up twelve gubernatorial seats and 472 legislative seats. In so doing, it took control of 20 state legislatures from the Democrats. Prior to this, Republicans had not held the majority of governorships since 1970. In addition, this was the first time in 50 years that the GOP controlled a majority of state legislatures.
Discontent with Democratic candidates was foreshadowed by a string of elections after 1992, including Republicans winning the mayoralties of New York and Los Angeles in 1993. In that same year, Christine Todd Whitman won the New Jersey governorship. Bret Schundler became the first Republican mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, which had been held by the Democratic Party since 1917.
Republican George Allen won the 1993 Virginia gubernatorial election, and Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison won a U.S. Senate seat from the Democrats in the 1993 special election. Republicans also picked up three congressional seats from Democrats in Oklahoma and Kentucky in May 1994.
On November 9, 1994, the day after the election, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, a conservative Democrat, changed parties, becoming a Republican; on March 3, 1995, Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched to the Republican side as well, increasing the GOP Senate majority.

## Effect

When the 104th United States Congress convened in January 1995, House Republicans voted former Minority Whip Newt Gingrich—the chief author of the Contract with America—to become Speaker of the House. The new senatorial Republican majority chose Bob Dole, previously Minority Leader, as Majority Leader. Republicans pursued an ambitious agenda, but were often forced to compromise with Democratic president Bill Clinton, who wielded veto power.
The 1994 election also marked the end of the conservative coalition, a bi-partisan coalition of conservative Republicans and Democrats (often referred to as "boll weevil Democrats", for their association with the South). This white conservative coalition had often managed to control Congressional outcomes since the end of the New Deal era.

## Pick-ups

Numerous Republican freshmen entered Congress. Of the 230 Republican House members of the 104th Congress, almost a third were new to the House. In the Senate, 11 of 54 (20%) Republicans were freshmen.

### Senate

| Name | State | Predecessor | Predecessor's fate |
| Richard Shelby | Alabama | Himself as a Democrat | Switched parties |
| Jon Kyl | Arizona | Dennis DeConcini | Retired |
| Ben Nighthorse Campbell | Colorado | Himself as a Democrat | Switched parties |
| Olympia Snowe | Maine | George Mitchell | Retired |
| Spencer Abraham | Michigan | Donald Riegle | Retired |
| Mike DeWine | Ohio | Howard Metzenbaum | Retired |
| Jim Inhofe | Oklahoma | David Boren | Retired |
| Rick Santorum | Pennsylvania | Harris Wofford | Defeated |
| Fred Thompson | Tennessee | Harlan Mathews | Retired |
| Bill Frist | Tennessee | Jim Sasser | Defeated |
| Kay Bailey Hutchison | Texas | Bob Krueger | Defeated |
* ↑ Shelby had been elected in 1986 and 1992 as a Democrat, but switched parties in 1994.
* ↑ Campbell was elected in 1992 as a Democrat, but switched parties on March 3, 1995.
* ↑ Boren's impending resignation to assume the presidency of the University of Oklahoma triggered a special election where Inhofe won. Boren resigned a week after the special election, with Inhofe being sworn in 2 days later for the remainder of Boren's term ending in 1997.
* ↑ Mathews was appointed to the seat as a caretaker following the resignation of Vice President Al Gore; Thompson was elected to serve the remaining two years of the term.
* ↑ Hutchison won the Senate seat from the Democrats in the 1993 special election to succeed Bob Krueger, who had been appointed to this seat following the resignation of Lloyd Bentsen, who had become the Secretary of the Treasury, seen as a precursor to the Republican Revolution.

### House of Representatives

| Name | District | Predecessor | Predecessor's fate |
| Matt Salmon | Arizona-1 | Sam Coppersmith | Retired; ran for U.S. Senate |
| J. D. Hayworth | Arizona-6 | Karan English | Defeated |
| Frank Riggs | California-1 | Dan Hamburg | Defeated |
| George Radanovich | California-19 | Richard Lehman | Defeated |
| Brian Bilbray | California-49 | Lynn Schenk | Defeated |
| Joe Scarborough | Florida-1 | Earl Hutto | Retired |
| Dave Weldon | Florida-15 | Jim Bacchus | Retired |
| Bob Barr | Georgia-7 | Buddy Darden | Defeated |
| Saxby Chambliss | Georgia-8 | J. Roy Rowland | Retired |
| Charlie Norwood | Georgia-10 | Don Johnson Jr. | Defeated |
| Helen Chenoweth | Idaho-1 | Larry LaRocco | Defeated |
| Michael Flanagan | Illinois-5 | Dan Rostenkowski | Defeated |
| Jerry Weller | Illinois-11 | George Sangmeister | Retired |
| David McIntosh | Indiana-2 | Phil Sharp | Retired |
| Mark Souder | Indiana-4 | Jill Long Thompson | Defeated |
| John Hostettler | Indiana-8 | Frank McCloskey | Defeated |
| Greg Ganske | Iowa-4 | Neal Smith | Defeated |
| Sam Brownback | Kansas-2 | Jim Slattery | Retired; ran for Governor |
| Todd Tiahrt | Kansas-4 | Dan Glickman | Defeated |
| Ed Whitfield | Kentucky-1 | Tom Barlow | Defeated |
| Jim Longley | Maine-1 | Tom Andrews | Retired; ran for U.S. Senate |
| Bob Ehrlich | Maryland-2 | Helen Bentley | Retired; ran for Governor of Maryland |
| Dick Chrysler | Michigan-8 | Bob Carr | Retired; ran for U.S. Senate |
| Gil Gutknecht | Minnesota-1 | Tim Penny | Retired |
| Roger Wicker | Mississippi-1 | Jamie Whitten | Retired |
| Jon Christensen | Nebraska-2 | Peter Hoagland | Defeated |
| John Ensign | Nevada-1 | James Bilbray | Defeated |
| Charlie Bass | New Hampshire-2 | Dick Swett | Defeated |
| Frank LoBiondo | New Jersey-2 | Bill Hughes | Retired |
| Bill Martini | New Jersey-8 | Herb Klein | Defeated |
| Michael Forbes | New York-1 | George Hochbrueckner | Defeated |
| David Funderburk | North Carolina-2 | Tim Valentine | Retired |
| Walter Jones | North Carolina-3 | Martin Lancaster | Defeated |
| Fred Heineman | North Carolina-4 | David Price | Defeated |
| Richard Burr | North Carolina-5 | Steve Neal | Retired |
| Steve Chabot | Ohio-1 | David Mann | Defeated |
| Frank Cremeans | Ohio-6 | Ted Strickland | Defeated |
| Bob Ney | Ohio-18 | Doug Applegate | Retired |
| Steve LaTourette | Ohio-19 | Eric Fingerhut | Defeated |
| Tom Coburn | Oklahoma-2 | Mike Synar | Defeated (in primary) |
| J. C. Watts | Oklahoma-4 | Dave McCurdy | Retired; ran for U.S. Senate |
| Jim Bunn | Oregon-5 | Mike Kopetski | Retired |
| Jon Fox | Pennsylvania-13 | Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky | Defeated |
| Lindsey Graham | South Carolina-3 | Butler Derrick | Retired |
| Zach Wamp | Tennessee-3 | Marilyn Lloyd | Retired |
| Van Hilleary | Tennessee-4 | Jim Cooper | Retired; ran for U.S. Senate |
| Steve Stockman | Texas-9 | Jack Brooks | Defeated |
| Mac Thornberry | Texas-13 | Bill Sarpalius | Defeated |
| Enid Greene Waldholtz | Utah-2 | Karen Shepherd | Defeated |
| Tom Davis | Virginia-11 | Leslie Byrne | Defeated |
| Rick White | Washington-1 | Maria Cantwell | Defeated |
| Jack Metcalf | Washington-2 | Al Swift | Retired |
| Linda Smith | Washington-3 | Jolene Unsoeld | Defeated |
| Doc Hastings | Washington-4 | Jay Inslee | Defeated |
| George Nethercutt | Washington-5 | Tom Foley | Defeated |
| Randy Tate | Washington-9 | Mike Kreidler | Defeated |
| Mark Neumann | Wisconsin-1 | Peter Barca | Defeated |
* ↑ Cantwell eventually elected as Senator in 2000.
* ↑ Inslee eventually returned to the Congress in 1999 following his victory in the 1998 House of Representatives elections.

### Governorships

| Name | State | Predecessor | Predecessor's fate |
| Fob James | Alabama | Jim Folsom Jr. | Defeated |
| John G. Rowland | Connecticut | Lowell P. Weicker Jr. | Retired |
| Phil Batt | Idaho | Cecil D. Andrus | Retired |
| Bill Graves | Kansas | Joan Finney | Retired |
| Gary Johnson | New Mexico | Bruce King | Defeated |
| George Pataki | New York | Mario Cuomo | Defeated |
| Frank Keating | Oklahoma | David Walters | Retired |
| Tom Ridge | Pennsylvania | Bob Casey Sr. | Term-limited |
| Lincoln Almond | Rhode Island | Bruce Sundlun | Defeated (in primary) |
| Don Sundquist | Tennessee | Ned McWherter | Term-limited |
| George W. Bush | Texas | Ann Richards | Defeated |
| Jim Geringer | Wyoming | Mike Sullivan | Term-limited |
* ↑ Weicker was a member of A Connecticut Party.