1994 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1994 United States House of Representatives election was held on November 8, 1994, in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term. As a result of a 54-seat swing in membership from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, Republicans gained a majority of seats in the United States 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 characterised a political realignment in American politics.
Democrats had run the House since 1955, and for all but four years since 1931. But in 1994 the Republican Party ran against President Clinton's proposed healthcare reform, benefited from impressions of corruption created by the Whitewater investigation, and picked up a majority of voters who had voted for Ross Perot in 1992. 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 reelection in his district, becoming the first sitting Speaker to do so since Galusha Grow in 1863. 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 reelection, but Democrats won four open Republican-held seats.
The incumbent Republican Minority whip, Newt Gingrich, was re-elected in the Republican landslide and became Speaker as the incumbent Republican Minority Leader, Robert H. Michel, retired. 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. A significant realigning election, the South underwent a drastic 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. The Republicans would go on to remain the majority party of the House for the following 12 years, until the 2006 elections.
Voting patterns
Republican gains, 1992–1994
| 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 |
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%.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, November 19, 1994, p. 3364; in the 1994 exit poll, 38 percent identified themselves as "conservatives," compared with 30 percent in 1992.
;Party identification and ideology by selected religious groups 1994
Overall results
Source:Incumbents defeated
Every Republican incumbent standing won re-election.Democrats
Thirty-four incumbent Democrats were defeated in 1994. Democrats from [|Washington] lost the most seats.- : Karan English
- : Dan Hamburg
- : Richard H. Lehman
- : Lynn Schenk
- : George Darden
- : Don Johnson Jr.
- : Larry LaRocco
- : Dan Rostenkowski
- : Jill Long
- : Frank McCloskey
- : Neal Edward Smith
- : Dan Glickman
- : Thomas Barlow
- : Peter Hoagland
- : James Bilbray
- : Richard Swett
- : Herb Klein
- : George J. Hochbrueckner
- : Martin Lancaster
- : David Price
- : David S. Mann
- : Ted Strickland
- : Eric Fingerhut
- : Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky
- : Jack Brooks
- : Bill Sarpalius
- : Karen Shepherd
- : Leslie Byrne
- : Maria Cantwell
- : Jolene Unsoeld
- : Jay Inslee
- : Tom Foley
- : Mike Kreidler
- : Peter W. Barca
Republicans
- None.
Special elections
| District | Predecessor | Party | First elected | Results Sorted by election date | Candidates |
| Glenn English | Democratic | 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]. | |||
| William Natcher | Democratic | Incumbent died March 29, 1994. Winner elected May 24, 1994. Republican gain. Winner was subsequently re-elected in November. |