1994 United States House of Representatives elections

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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

, 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.

Republican gains, 1992–1994

 * 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%.

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.


 * Party identification and ideology by selected religious groups 1994
 * Source: Mitofsky International exit poll in Klinkner, p. 121.

Overall results
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Democrats

 * OK's 2nd congressional district: Mike Synar lost to Virgil R. Cooper, who later lost the general election to Republican Tom Coburn
 * PA's 2nd congressional district: Lucien E. Blackwell lost to Chaka Fattah, who later won the general election
 * TX's 18th congressional district: Craig Washington lost to Sheila Jackson Lee, who later won the general election

Republicans

 * NY's 4th congressional district: David A. Levy lost to Dan Frisa, who later won the general election

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


 * AZ's 6th congressional district: Karan English
 * CA's 1st congressional district: Dan Hamburg
 * CA's 19th congressional district: Richard H. Lehman
 * CA's 49th congressional district: Lynn Schenk
 * GA's 7th congressional district: George Darden
 * GA's 10th congressional district: Don Johnson Jr.
 * ID's 1st congressional district: Larry LaRocco
 * IL's 5th congressional district: Dan Rostenkowski
 * IN's 4th congressional district: Jill Long
 * IN's 8th congressional district: Frank McCloskey
 * IA's 4th congressional district: Neal Edward Smith
 * KS's 4th congressional district: Dan Glickman
 * KY's 1st congressional district: Thomas Barlow
 * NE's 2nd congressional district: Peter Hoagland
 * NV's 1st congressional district: James Bilbray
 * NH's 2nd congressional district: Richard Swett
 * NJ's 8th congressional district: Herb Klein
 * NY's 1st congressional district: George J. Hochbrueckner
 * NC's 3rd congressional district: Martin Lancaster
 * NC's 4th congressional district: David Price
 * OH's 1st congressional district: David S. Mann
 * OH's 6th congressional district: Ted Strickland
 * OH's 19th congressional district: Eric Fingerhut
 * PA's 13th congressional district: Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky
 * TX's 9th congressional district: Jack Brooks
 * TX's 13th congressional district: Bill Sarpalius
 * UT's 2nd congressional district: Karen Shepherd
 * VA's 11th congressional district: Leslie Byrne
 * WA's 1st congressional district: Maria Cantwell
 * WA's 3rd congressional district: Jolene Unsoeld
 * WA's 4th congressional district: Jay Inslee
 * WA's 5th congressional district: Tom Foley
 * WA's 9th congressional district: Mike Kreidler
 * WI's 1st congressional district: Peter W. Barca

Republicans

 * None.

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


 * AZ's 1st congressional district: Matt Salmon
 * FL's 1st congressional district: Joe Scarborough
 * FL's 15th congressional district: Dave Weldon
 * GA's 8th congressional district: Saxby Chambliss
 * IL's 11th congressional district: Jerry Weller
 * IN's 2nd congressional district: David M. McIntosh
 * KS's 2nd congressional district: Sam Brownback
 * ME's 1st congressional district: James B. Longley Jr.
 * MI's 8th congressional district: Dick Chrysler
 * MN's 1st congressional district: Gil Gutknecht
 * MS's 1st congressional district: Roger Wicker
 * NJ's 2nd congressional district: Frank LoBiondo
 * NC's 2nd congressional district: David Funderburk
 * NC's 5th congressional district: Richard Burr
 * OH's 18th congressional district: Bob Ney
 * OK's 2nd congressional district: Tom Coburn
 * OK's 4th congressional district: J. C. Watts
 * OR's 5th congressional district: Jim Bunn
 * SC's 3rd congressional district: Lindsey Graham
 * TN's 3rd congressional district: Zach Wamp
 * TN's 4th congressional district: Van Hilleary
 * WA's 2nd congressional district: Jack Metcalf

Republican seats won by Democrats
Democrats won four open seats previously held by Republicans.


 * ME's 2nd congressional district: John Baldacci
 * MN's 6th congressional district: Bill Luther
 * PA's 18th congressional district: Mike Doyle
 * RI's 1st congressional district: Patrick J. Kennedy

Democratic seats held
Democrats held nine of their open seats.


 * CA's 16th congressional district: Zoe Lofgren
 * KY's 3rd congressional district: Mike Ward
 * MI's 13th congressional district: Lynn N. Rivers
 * MO's 5th congressional district: Karen McCarthy
 * PA's 2nd congressional district: Chaka Fattah
 * PA's 20th congressional district: Frank Mascara
 * TX's 10th congressional district: Lloyd Doggett
 * TX's 18th congressional district: Sheila Jackson Lee
 * TX's 25th congressional district: Ken Bentsen Jr.

Republican seats held
Republicans held 17 of their open seats.


 * AZ's 4th congressional district: John Shadegg
 * CA's 22nd congressional district: Andrea Seastrand
 * CA's 44th congressional district: Sonny Bono
 * FL's 16th congressional district: Mark Foley
 * IL's 18th congressional district: Ray LaHood
 * IA's 5th congressional district: Tom Latham
 * MD's 2nd congressional district: Bob Ehrlich
 * NJ's 11th congressional district: Rodney Frelinghuysen
 * NY's 4th congressional district: Dan Frisa
 * NY's 19th congressional district: Sue W. Kelly
 * NC's 9th congressional district: Sue Myrick
 * OK's 1st congressional district: Steve Largent
 * OR's 2nd congressional district: Wes Cooley
 * PA's 21st congressional district: Phil English
 * SC's 1st congressional district: Mark Sanford
 * TN's 7th congressional district: Ed Bryant
 * WY At-large: Barbara Cubin

Non-voting delegates
! DC At-large
 * Eleanor Holmes Norton
 * | Democratic
 * 1990
 * Incumbent re-elected.
 * nowrap | ✅ Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democratic)

! VI At-large
 * Ron de Lugo
 * | Democratic
 * 1980
 * | Incumbent retired. New member elected. Independent gain.
 * nowrap |

✅ Victor O. Frazer (Independent)

Eileen Peterson (Democratic)

! GU At-large
 * Robert A. Underwood
 * | Democratic
 * 1992
 * Incumbent re-elected.
 * nowrap | ✅ Robert A. Underwood (Democratic)


 * }