1994 United Nations Security Council election, Rules
To be elected, a candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. If the vote is inconclusive after the first round, three rounds of restricted voting shall take place, followed by three rounds of unrestricted voting, and so on, until a result has been obtained. In restricted voting, only official candidates may be voted on, while in unrestricted voting, any member of the given regional group, with the exception of current Council members, may be voted on.


1994 United Nations Security Council election, Endorsed candidates
The Chairpersons of the respective Regional Groups made known their endorsements of the candidate nations prior to the vote. Mr. Jallow of the Gambia gave the endorsement of the African Group to Botswana. Mr. Slade of Samoa gave the endorsement of the Asian Group to Indonesia. Mr. Fernandez Estigarribia of Paraguay gave the endorsement of the Latin American and Caribbean Group to Honduras. Mrs. Fréchette, the then-Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, gave the endorsement of the Western European and Others Group to Germany and Italy.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska
The Alaska Congressional election of 1994 was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1994. The term of the state's sole Representative to the United States House of Representatives expired on January 3, 1995. The winning candidate would serve a two-year term from January 3, 1995, to January 3, 1997.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia
The 1994 congressional election for the Delegate from the District of Columbia was held on November 8, 1994. The winner of the race was Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who won her second re-election. All elected members would serve in 104th United States Congress.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia
The non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia is elected for two-year terms.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia, Candidates
Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, sought election for her third term to the United States House of Representatives. Norton was opposed in this election by Republican challenger Donald A. Saltz who received 7.96%. This resulted in Norton being re-elected with 89.25% of the vote.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in Montana
The 1994 United States House of Representatives election in Montana were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the state of Montana in the United States House of Representatives. Montana has one, at large district in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census, due to its low population. Representatives are elected for two-year terms. As of 2019, this is the last time that a Democrat won Montana's House seat.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont
The 1994 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1994 to elect the U.S. Representative from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including an election to the U.S. Senate.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont
In the midst of the Republican Revolution, Bernie Sanders was narrowly re-elected by a margin of 3.31%. This election marks the final statewide election Sanders contested where he did not win every county in the state.


1994 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming
The 1994 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the state of Wyoming in the United States House of Representatives. Wyoming has one, at large district in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census, due to its low population. Representatives are elected for two-year terms. This election was for an open seat because incumbent Craig L. Thomas retired to run for U.S. Senator for Wyoming.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections (also known as the Republican Revolution) were 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 characterized a political realignment in American politics.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections
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.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections
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. NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent was elected in Oklahoma and singer Sonny Bono was elected in California.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections
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 political realignment, 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.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections
As of 2021, this is the last congressional election in which Democrats won a house seat in Montana, the last time Republicans won any house seats in Massachusetts, and the last time Republicans won every house seat in Iowa.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections, Voting patterns, 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%.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections, Voting patterns, Religious right
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.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections, Incumbents defeated, Democrats
Thirty-four incumbent Democrats (including 16 "freshmen") were defeated in 1994. Democrats from Washington lost the most seats (5).


1994 United States House of Representatives elections, Open seats that changed parties, Democratic seats won by Republicans
22 open seats previously held by Democrats were won by Republicans.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona
The 1994 congressional elections in Arizona were elections for Arizona's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred along with congressional elections nationwide on November 8, 1994. Arizona has six seats, as apportioned during the 1990 United States Census. Republicans held five seats and Democrats held one seat afterward, compared to both parties having  three seats each before the election.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in California
The United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1994 was an election for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 8, 1994. As in much of the country during the Republican Revolution, Republicans made gains in California's House delegation, gaining three seats. In a December 12, 1995, special election former Rep. Tom Campbell won Rep. Norman Mineta's old seat and tied the delegation at 26 seats a piece.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
The 1994 House elections in Georgia occurred on November 8, 1994 to elect the members of the State of Georgia's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Georgia had eleven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
These elections were held concurrently with the United States Senate elections of 1994, the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
Despite the fact that Bill Clinton had won Georgia's electoral votes in the Presidential election of 1992 two years prior, Republicans capitalized on the unpopularity of Clinton's and Congressional Democrats' major initiatives, most notably the Clinton health care plan of 1993 and gun control measures as well as miscellaneous disputes regarding social issues to gain three House seats from Democrats. In doing so, Republicans held a majority of the seats of Georgia's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction. Republicans would gain an additional seat when Nathan Deal (GA-9) changed his political affiliation in April 1995.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the state of Kansas in the United States House of Representatives. Kansas has four seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland
The 1994 congressional elections in Maryland were held on November 8, 1994, to determine who will represent the state of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives. Maryland has eight seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 104th Congress from January 3, 1995 until January 3, 1997.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan
The 1994 congressional elections in Michigan were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who would represent the state of Michigan in the United States House of Representatives. Michigan had sixteen seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire
The 1994 congressional elections in New Hampshire were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the state of New Hampshire in the United States House of Representatives. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 104th Congress from January 1995 until January 1997. New Hampshire has two seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 8, 1994, to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. The primary elections for the Democrats and the Republicans were held on August 9 and the runoff elections were held two weeks later on August 23. All four incumbents who ran were re-elected and the Republicans won both of the open seats in the 1st congressional district and the 3rd congressional district. The composition of the state delegation after the elections was four Republicans and two Democrats.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1st congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Arthur Ravenel, Jr. of the 1st congressional district, in office since 1987, chose to run for Governor instead of re-election. Mark Sanford, a real estate developer from Sullivan's Island, won the Republican primary and defeated Democrat Robert Barber in the general election.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2nd congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Floyd Spence of the 2nd congressional district, in office since 1971, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 3rd congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Butler Derrick of the 3rd congressional district, in office since 1975, opted to retire. Lindsey Graham, a state representative from Oconee County, won the Republican primary and defeated Democrat James E. Bryan, Jr. in the general election.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 4th congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Bob Inglis of the 4th congressional district, in office since 1993, defeated Democratic challenger Jerry L. Fowler.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 5th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman John M. Spratt, Jr. of the 5th congressional district, in office since 1983, defeated Republican challenger Larry Bigham.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 6th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of the 6th congressional district, in office since 1993, defeated Republican challenger Gary McLeod.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 8, 1994, to elect the members of the state of Texas's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Texas had thirty seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas
These elections occurred simultaneously with the United States Senate elections of 1994, the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. Virginia has eleven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia
The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia were held on November 8, 1994 to determine who will represent the state of West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. West Virginia has three seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 1
Incumbent Democrat Alan Mollohan defeated Republican Sally Rossy Riley. This district covers the northern part of the state.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 2
Incumbent Democrat Bob Wise defeated Republican Samuel A. Cravotta. This district covers the central part of the state.


1994 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 3
Incumbent Democrat Nick Rahall defeated Republican Ben Waldman. This district covers the southern part of the state.


1994 United States Interregional Soccer League
The 1994 United States Interregional Soccer League was an outdoor season run by the United States Interregional Soccer League.


1994 United States Interregional Soccer League, Regular season, Schedule
Each team had a 20-game schedule, with two games counting as Designated Makeup Games (DMGs). DMGs are plugged in for any game that was cancelled during the season.


1994 United States Interregional Soccer League, Regular season, Scoring
Teams in the Northeast and Midwest have points that reflect the addition of a 1-point corner kick bonus per game. The standings published by the USISL list only the wins, losses, goals scored, goals allowed and total points. They do not provide the number of wins or losses that came through shootouts. They also do not provide the number of bonus points coming from goals or corner kicks.


1994 United States Senate election in Arizona
The 1994 United States Senate election in Arizona was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican nominee Jon Kyl won the open seat.


1994 United States Senate election in California
The 1994 United States Senate election in California was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein won re-election to her first full term. By a margin of 1.9%, this election was the closest race of the 1994 Senate election cycle.


1994 United States Senate election in California, Other nominations, Green Party
While there was no primary election for the Green Party, Barbara Blong got the nomination of the party and represented them in the general election.


1994 United States Senate election in California, General election, Campaign
After one term in the House representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, Huffington spent $8 million by the end of August and a total of $28 million during the entire campaign. He became wealthy off oil and gas. The race saw personal attacks on Huffington's wife, Arianna Huffington, who was very involved in the race (the media dubbed her the "Sir Edmund Hillary of social climbing," according to The Almanac of American Politics).


1994 United States Senate election in California, General election, Campaign
Huffington was called a hypocrite for supporting Proposition 187 and then breaking the law for employing illegal aliens, a story which came out in the race's final days. A grand total of $44 million was spent in the election. At the time, it was the most expensive campaign in a non-presidential election in American history. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post named the election one of the nastiest senate elections in modern history.


1994 United States Senate election in California, General election, Results
On election day it was a very close race, but Feinstein won Los Angeles County, which may have pulled her ahead. Her sizable win in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area may also be credited to her slim statewide victory. A large number of absentee ballots left the results in doubt for over two weeks. On November 18, Senator Feinstein declared victory. At that time, she was ahead by 147,404 votes, with only 156,210 remaining uncounted ballots. Huffington had not conceded at that point, saying that there was evidence of voter fraud and calling for an investigation. He had already filed a legal complaint, which had already been dismissed. As of December 23, Huffington still contended that there may have been voting fraud and had not conceded.


1994 United States Senate election in Connecticut
The 1994 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman won re-election to a second term.


1994 United States Senate election in Connecticut, General election, Results
† Includes 280,049 votes received on the line of A Connecticut Party, which cross-endorsed Lieberman.


1994 United States Senate election in Delaware
The 1994 United States Senate election in Delaware was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator William V. Roth won re-election to a fifth term. William Roth is Delaware's first senator to win a fifth term. He was Delaware's longest-serving senator until Joe Biden won a sixth term in  2002. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Delaware.


1994 United States Senate election in Florida
The 1994 United States Senate election in Florida was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Connie Mack III won re-election easily, earning a second term and carrying every county in the state.


1994 United States Senate election in Florida, General election, Campaign
Rodham left the public defenders office to run for the United States Senate in Florida in 1994. He won the Democratic Party nomination by defeating Mike Wiley in a runoff election, after earlier finishing first in a four-person primary field with 34 percent. After the first primary, the third-place finisher, flamboyant Miami lawyer and perennial losing candidate Ellis Rubin, joined forces with Rodham as a "senior executive consultant" and hatchet man.


1994 United States Senate election in Florida, General election, Campaign
In the presence of Rodham at a press conference, Rubin levelled the accusation that Wiley was hiding his Jewish faith by changing his name from his birth name, Michael Schreibman, and that Wiley "changed his name before the campaign to deceive voters about his Jewish religion." Wiley accordingly refused to endorse Rodham after the runoff. Rodham then lost by a 70%-30% margin to incumbent Senator Republican Connie Mack III in the general election.


1994 United States Senate election in Florida, General election, Campaign
Although Bill and Hillary Clinton both campaigned for him, his organization was unable to take advantage of their help, he had few funds, almost no television commercials, and little support from the Florida Democratic party establishment in a year that saw Republican gains everywhere. After the election, Rubin switched allegiance again and charged Rodham with election law violations in the first primary; the Federal Elections Commission eventually dismissed the allegations.


1994 United States Senate election in Hawaii
The 1994 United States Senate election in Hawaii was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka won re-election to his first full term.


1994 United States Senate election in Indiana
The 1994 United States Senate election in Indiana was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Lugar was re-elected to a fourth term. Lugar won all but one county.


1994 United States Senate election in Indiana, Results, By county
Lugar won 91 of Indiana's 92 counties, Jontz won only the Democratic stronghold of Lake County.


1994 United States Senate election in Maine
The 1994 United States Senate election in Maine was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell decided to retire, instead of seeking a third term. Congressman Tom Andrews won the Democratic primary unopposed, while Congresswoman Olympia Snowe won the Republican primary unopposed. In the general election, Snowe defeated Andrews in a rout to win her first of three terms in the United States Senate, a stark contrast to retiring Senator Mitchell's landslide win six years prior.


1994 United States Senate election in Maryland
The 1994 United States Senate Election in Maryland was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes won re-election to a fourth term.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
The 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy won re-election to his sixth full term, defeating the Republican nominee, businessman Mitt Romney. Romney was later elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 2012, in which he lost the presidency to then-incumbent President Barack Obama, and ultimately a U.S. Senator from Utah in 2018, 24 years later.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Romney defeated his closest competitor, John Lakian, to win the Republican primary with over 80% of the vote. He campaigned as a political moderate and Washington outsider, and posed the greatest challenge ever made against Kennedy for the Senate seat since he first took office in 1962. Democratic congressmen across the country were struggling to maintain their seats, and Kennedy in particular was damaged by character concerns and an ongoing divorce controversy. The contest became very close.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Kennedy launched ads criticizing Romney's tenure as the leader of the company known as Bain Capital, accusing him of treating workers unfairly and taking away jobs, while also criticizing what were widely considered to be Romney's shifting political views. Romney also performed inadequately in the debates between the two candidates, and made a number of poorly received statements that reduced his standing in the polls.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
In the closest Senate election of his career since after 1962, Kennedy won by a reasonably comfortable margin, despite a series of losses for Democrats around the country, including control of the US Senate.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Despite Romney's loss in this race, this would not be his last Senatorial bid. After reestablishing residence in Utah and nearly 24 years after the loss, Romney won the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Utah for the open seat vacated by Senator Orrin Hatch.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Republican primary, Campaign
Romney was initially behind businessman John Lakian in the battle to win the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate. However, after using his personal wealth to advertise heavily on television, he gained overwhelming support at the state party convention.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, Republican primary, Campaign
Romney then defeated Lakian easily in the September 1994 Republican Party primary with over 80 percent of the vote.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the younger, telegenic, and very well-funded Romney. Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues. After two decades out of public view, his father George re-emerged during the campaign. George Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Kennedy was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of the Chappaquiddick incident and his first wife Joan Bennett Kennedy seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Some early polls showed Romney close to Kennedy. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even. One Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994, primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error. In another September poll, Romney had a 43 to 42 percent lead. President Bill Clinton traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Religion became an issue for a while, after Kennedy's campaign said it was fair to ask Romney about his LDS Church's past policy of not allowing blacks into the priesthood. Romney accused Kennedy of having violated Senator John F. Kennedy's famous September 1960 pledge not to allow his own Catholic doctrine to inform policy, made during his ultimately victorious presidential campaign. George Romney forcefully interjected during his son's press conference, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture."


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company, Ampad, bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital. They showed interviews with its union workers who had been fired and who criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, with one saying, "I don't think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away."


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Kennedy's charges were effective, as more voters decided that Romney was interested in profits more than people.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Kennedy's attack ads also focused both on Romney's shifting political views; although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion rights established under Roe v. Wade, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice." Romney said his stance dated back to his mother, Lenore Romney, and her position during her 1970 U.S. Senate campaign: "My mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that." Nevertheless, women's groups and Democrats viewed Romney's position with suspicion. (In subsequent years, Romney became pro-life and opposed Roe.)


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a second mortgage on his Virginia home. Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein–Michael Huffington Senate race in California). Kennedy's new wife Vicki Reggie Kennedy proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
By early October, Kennedy was ahead by 49 to 44 percent in a Boston Globe poll. In their first televised debate, held at Faneuil Hall on October 25, Kennedy came out charging with his aging but still booming voice; regarding the Ampad deal, he said to Romney, "I don't know why you wouldn't meet with the strikers with that flimflam deal of yours out there in Indiana."


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Romney charged that Kennedy had benefited from a real-estate deal that had been done on a no-bid basis, but Kennedy responded with a rehearsed line: "Mr. Romney, the Kennedys are not in public service to make money. We have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service of this country." Each candidate was asked to discuss one of their own failings. In a dramatic moment, Kennedy indirectly referred to his personal problems and acknowledged that he was "painfully aware" that on such occasions he had let his supporters down.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
By contrast, Romney mentioned work for several local charities he was engaged with on a near daily basis. When the moderator reminded him of the question, Romney responded "I guess what I regret is that I'm not able to provide even more help for those less fortunate than myself.... I wish I could do even more." Kennedy won this key debate as he reconnected with his traditional bases of support: two polls of voters conducted afterwards both showed Kennedy as the victor in the debate.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
One post-debate October general election poll showed Kennedy leading 50 percent to 32, and another by 56 to 36 percent. A second debate, held two days later at Holyoke Community College, focused more on policy details and lacked the intensity of the first one; Romney failed to gain any traction from it.


1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Results
In the November general election, despite a bad national year for Democrats overall, Kennedy easily won re-election by a 58 percent to 41 percent margin, the closest re-election race of his career; only his initial victory in the 1962 Senate special election in Massachusetts was closer.


1994 United States Senate election in Michigan
The 1994 United States Senate election in Michigan was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Don Riegle decided to retire and not run for re-election. Republican Spencer Abraham won the open seat, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Michigan since 1972. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Michigan.


1994 United States Senate election in Michigan, Background
Riegle, a 3-term incumbent, was considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats in the 1994 mid-term elections, due to the unpopularity of President Bill Clinton and his being involved as a member of the Keating Five, a group of five United States Senators who were accused of corruption. After months of speculation, Riegle announced he would not seek a 4th term in a speech on the Senate floor.


1994 United States Senate election in Minnesota
The 1994 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator David Durenberger decided to retire instead of seeking a third full term. Republican Rod Grams won the open seat. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans won the Class 1 Senate seat from Minnesota.


1994 United States Senate election in Mississippi
The 1994 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held November 7, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Trent Lott won re-election to a second term.


1994 United States Senate election in Missouri
The 1994 United States Senate election in Missouri was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Danforth decided to retire and not seek re-election. Former Governor of Missouri John Ashcroft won the open seat in a landslide.


1994 United States Senate election in Montana
The 1994 United States Senate election in Montana was held November 8, 1994 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Montana. Incumbent U.S. Senator Conrad Burns won re-election to a second term. This was the first time a Republican senator ever won re-election in Montana.


1994 United States Senate election in Nebraska
The 1994 Nebraska United States Senate election was held November 8, 1994 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Nebraska. Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey won re-election.


1994 United States Senate election in Nevada
The 1994 United States Senate election in Nevada was held November 3, 1994. Incumbent Democrat Richard Bryan won re-election to a second term. This was the last time a Democrat won Nevada's Class 1 Senate Seat until Jacky Rosen was elected to it in 2018.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey
The 1994 United States Senate Election in New Jersey was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg won re-election to a third term.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Campaign
Lautenberg took no part in much of the summer campaign, delegating duties to his campaign director David Eichenbaum. Haytaian became so frustrated with the Senator's absence that he referred to Eichenbaum as Lautenberg's "paid mouthpiece" and his campaign aides began to refer to "Senator Eichenbaum" in their campaign materials.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Campaign
Haytaian centered his campaign on reducing federal taxes through the institution of a flat federal income tax of 18.5%. Throughout the campaign, Haytaian emphasized taxes and fiscal issues over social issues. Eichenbaum, standing in for Lautenberg, referred to Haytaian's flat tax as a "giveaway to the rich" and criticized Haytaian as a "hypocrite" for previously opposing a flat state tax plan because it would have eliminated home mortgage interest and state and local tax deductions. Haytaian fired back that in 1982, Lautenberg had called a flat tax "the only one that can quickly close the loopholes."


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Campaign
Campaign advertisements for both candidates were highly negative. Both candidates positioned themselves as tough on crime and taxes, which polling showed were the two major issues in the state. Haytaian stressed his support for the death penalty and Lautenberg's opposition.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Campaign
Abortion was also an issue; Lautenberg supported abortion rights, while Haytaian favored mandatory waiting periods, parental notification for minors, and a ban on federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or where necessary to save the life of a pregnant mother. In the past, Haytaian had supported a constitutional ban.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Debates
Lautenberg agreed to two debates on October 15 and 25.


1994 United States Senate election in New Jersey, General Election, Results
Haytaian remarked after the race that he was most disappointed by the margins of his losses in Bergen and Middlesex counties.


1994 United States Senate election in New Mexico
The 1994 United States Senate election in New Mexico was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democrat Jeff Bingaman won re-election to a third term.


1994 United States Senate election in New York
The 1994 United States Senate election in New York was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan won re-election to a fourth term.


1994 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
1994 was significant for the Republican Revolution, mostly as a referendum against President Bill Clinton and his health care plan, and was seen as a tough year for Democratic incumbents. Moynihan, however, was New York State's most popular politician at the time, and ran ahead of all other Democrats competing statewide.


1994 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
Republican Castro was running for office for the first time and had trouble raising funds due to being seen as unlikely to win; at times during the race she trailed by up to 30 percentage points. She portrayed herself as a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican in the mold of Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman, and attempted to portray Moynihan as excessively liberal and prone to government spending. But Moynihan repeated his past strong performance among upstate voters, in addition to the usual Democratic strongholds in New York City.


1994 United States Senate election in North Dakota
The 1994 United States Senate election in North Dakota was held on November 2, 1994. Incumbent Democratic-NPL U.S. Senator Kent Conrad won re-election to his first full term as senior Senator, although technically his second term in the position, having served the end of Quentin Burdick's term after his death. Conrad also had served an additional term as junior Senator from 1986 to 1992.


1994 United States Senate election in Ohio
The 1994 United States Senate election in Ohio was held in 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S Senator Howard Metzenbaum decided to retire after 19 years in the United States Senate. Republican nominee Mike DeWine won the open seat against Democratic nominee Joel Hyatt. Independent candidate, conservative pro-life activist Joe Slovenec performed very well, getting over 7% of the vote.


1994 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1994 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, who was appointed to the position in 1991 and won a special election the same year, sought re-election to a full six-year term, but he was defeated by Republican Rick Santorum. By a margin of 2.5%, this election was the second-closest race of the 1994 Senate election cycle, behind only the election in California.


1994 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, General election, Campaign
Wofford's campaign was hurt from the outset by his strong connection with President Bill Clinton's failed healthcare reform proposals; Wofford had made working toward universal healthcare a crucial issue in his prior campaign and was one of the executive's strongest allies on the issue. After this failure, however, the senator ran a relatively passive campaign. He instead attempted to focus attention on his challenger, an arch-conservative who did not attempt to moderate his views after the primary election.


1994 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, General election, Campaign
The polarizing Santorum took strong positions against abortion, gay rights, and affirmative action, and he even clashed with some of the traditional fixtures of the state's moderate Republican establishment. Early in the campaign and with little statewide name recognition, Santorum made a critical error by attacking Social Security, and Wofford appeared to be in relatively safe position. However, Santorum ran an effective grassroots campaign and specifically targeted many union Democrats who had reservations about the liberal social values advocated by many of their party's leaders.


1994 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, General election, Campaign
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Santorum was greatly helped by strong Republican enthusiasm because of anger over Clinton's failed initiatives. He solidified his status by running a series of positive ads that attempted to define his character strengths and to contrast with Wofford's negative commercials. Santorum eventually received a close victory by performing well (and nearly winning) his home in the suburban Pittsburgh region and through particularly low turnout in Democratic strongholds, such as Philadelphia, Scranton, and Pittsburgh.


1994 United States Senate election in Rhode Island
The 1994 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Chafee won re-election to a fourth term. Chafee died of heart-failure on October 24, 1999 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, having already announced his intention to retire in 2000 on March 15, 1999. His son Lincoln, then the mayor of Warwick, was appointed to replace him by Governor Lincoln Almond.


1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee
The 1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Sasser ran for re-election to a fourth term but was defeated by Republican nominee Bill Frist.


1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee
The election was held concurrently with the special election for the open Tennessee U.S. Senate seat, which had been held by Democrat Al Gore until his election as Vice President of the United States, and which was sought by Republican nominee Fred Thompson and Democratic nominee Jim Cooper; Thompson won in a decisive victory. As a result of Frist and Thompson's simultaneous victories in Tennessee, the two elections marked the first time since 1978 that both Senate seats in a state have flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle.


1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee, Campaign
There were two unforeseen events that affected the campaign. One was the large scale of discontent that the American people seemed to have toward the first two years of the Clinton administration, especially the proposal for a national healthcare system largely put together and advocated by Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton. The other was the somewhat unexpected nomination of Nashville heart transplant surgeon Bill Frist for the seat by the Republicans.


1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee, Campaign
Frist, who had never voted until he was 36, was a political unknown and a total novice at campaigning, but was from one of Nashville's most prominent and wealthiest medical families, which gave him some name recognition, as well as adequate enough resources to match the campaign war chest built up by the three-term incumbent, a challenge most "insurgent" candidates find to be impossible.


1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee, Campaign
A further factor working to Frist's advantage was a simultaneous Republican campaign by actor and attorney Fred Thompson for the other Tennessee Senate seat, which was open due to Al Gore resigning to become Vice President of the United States. Another factor in Frist's favor was that Sasser was never seen as possessing much charisma of his own. During the campaign Nashville radio stations were derisive towards Sasser to the point of stating that he could only win "a Kermit The Frog lookalike contest." In one of the largest upsets in a night of political upsets in the November 1994 U.S. general elections, Frist defeated the incumbent Sasser, then Chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee, by approximately 14 percentage points.


1994 United States Senate election in Texas
The 1994 United States Senate election in Texas was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison won re-election to her first full term.


1994 United States Senate election in Utah
The 1994 United States Senate election in Utah was held November 8, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch won re-election to a fourth term.


1994 United States Senate election in Vermont
The 1994 U.S. Senate election in Vermont was held, where incumbent centrist Republican senator Jim Jeffords won re-election to a second term against state senator Jan Backus and independent Gavin Mills. He won every county in the state.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia
The 1994 United States Senate election in Virginia was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Robb won re-election to a second term.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia, Democratic primary, Convention
There was an attempt to draft Governor Doug Wilder to run against Robb, but he chose to run as an independent candidate.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia, Republican primary, Convention
North won a majority of the vote at the convention. He was not opposed in the primary.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia, General election, Campaign
Oliver North was a very controversial figure as he was involved in the Iran-Contra Affair, a scandal during Ronald Reagan's presidency. Marshall Coleman attempted to seize the middle ground between Robb and North. Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia endorsed Marshall Coleman. On the eve of the election, former first lady Nancy Reagan told a reporter that North had lied to her husband when discussing Iran-Contra with the former president, effectively eviscerating him. North's candidacy was documented in the 1996 film A Perfect Candidate.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia, General election, Campaign
In his failed bid to unseat Robb, North raised $20.3 million in a single year through nationwide direct mail solicitations, telemarketing, fundraising events, and contributions from major donors. About $16 million of that amount was from direct mail alone. This was the biggest accumulation of direct mail funds for a statewide campaign to that date, and it made North the top direct mail political fundraiser in the country in 1994.


1994 United States Senate election in Virginia, General election, Campaign
Douglas Wilder, the first black governor of Virginia, who served from 1990 to 1994, originally entered the Senate race as an independent before dropping out.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington
The 1994 United States Senate election in Washington was held November 7, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Slade Gorton won re-election to a second consecutive term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Washington and the last time a male candidate won a U.S. Senate election in the state.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, Background
Incumbent Slade Gorton was first elected U.S. Senator from Washington in 1980. Gorton narrowly lost his re-election bid in 1986. In 1988, Gorton successfully ran for the state's other Senate seat.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, Background
Leading up to the 1994 U.S. Senate elections, Gorton was considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents. Democrats had swept the statewide elections in 1992—winning the presidential, gubernatorial, and U.S. Senate races.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, Blanket primary, Democratic
Many prominent Washington Democrats declined to contest the seat. Campaign analyst Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report wrote that "the real top-notch folks just aren't running." Seattle mayor Norm Rice was encouraged by President Bill Clinton to run, but opted to stay in his position as mayor. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee unsuccessfully urged members of the state's U.S. House delegation to run.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, Blanket primary, Democratic
Ron Sims, King County Councilman, won the crowded Democratic primary with 18% of the vote. News anchor Mike James came in second with 15%; all other candidates received less than 5%.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, Blanket primary, Republican
Incumbent Slade Gorton faced no serious competition for the Republican nomination. Gorton won the primary with 52% of the vote. No other Republican candidate received any significant amount of support.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, General election, Campaign
Despite serving 12 years in the U.S. Senate, Gorton campaigned in 1994 as an outsider candidate. He told crowds at campaign rallies: "If you want more of what you're getting from Washington, D.C., send one of my opponents. If you want a different direction, give a voice to balance by sending me back to the Senate." He gained support among agricultural, logging, and mining groups in Eastern Washington for his criticism of federal regulations. Gorton called for opening up more federal forests to logging and changes to the Endangered Species Act.


1994 United States Senate election in Washington, General election, Campaign
Sims campaigned in support of the Clinton administration. He accused Gorton of obstructing President Clinton's healthcare and crime reforms. The Sims campaign also attempted to portray Gorton as out of touch with the average Washingtonian. Sims was the first African American U.S. Senate candidate in state history to advance to the general election, although the issue of race was rarely addressed during the campaign.


1994 United States Senate election in West Virginia
The 1994 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held November 7, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Byrd won re-election to a seventh term. He won every county and congressional district in the state.


1994 United States Senate election in West Virginia, Campaign
Klos campaigned as a "sacrificial lamb" against Robert C. Byrd participating in the Republican U.S. Senatorial Committee’s strategy to re-capture a majority in the United States Senate in 1994. Byrd spent $1,550,354 to Klos' $267,165. Additionally the Democratic Party invested over $1 million in that State's U.S. Senatorial Campaign to the Republican Party's $15,000. The GOP captured a majority in the U.S. Senate. The highlights of the campaign included the hiring of an actor to play Robert C. Byrd who toured in staged Statewide Debates when the incumbent refused Klos's invitation for a series of formal Senatorial Debates.


1994 United States Senate election in West Virginia, Campaign
The campaign also organized successful demonstrations against the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Health Care Bus as it traveled through West Virginia in the summer of 1994. Senator Byrd, while the bill was being debated on the Senate floor rose suggesting the brakes be put on approving National Health Care measure while the bus was completing its tour in WV. To Klos's credit, the campaign did not implement the "Death by a Thousand Cuts" plan proposed by strategists which was later acknowledged in speeches given and letters written by U.S. Senator Byrd.


1994 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
The 1994 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Herb Kohl won re-election to a second term.


1994 United States Senate election in Wyoming
The 1994 United States Senate election in Wyoming was held November 3, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican U.S. Representative Craig L. Thomas won the open seat, defeating Democratic Governor Mike Sullivan.


1994 United States Senate elections
The 1994 United States Senate elections held November 8, 1994 in which the Republican Party took control of the Senate from the Democrats. Like for most other midterm elections, the opposition, this time being the Republicans, held the traditional advantage. The congressional Republicans campaigned against the early presidency of Bill Clinton, including his unsuccessful health care plan. The Republicans successfully defended all of their seats and won eight from the Democrats by defeating the incumbent Senators Harris Wofford (Pennsylvania) and Jim Sasser (Tennessee), in addition to picking up six open seats in Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Notably, since Sasser's defeat coincided with a Republican victory in the special election to replace Al Gore, Tennessee's Senate delegation switched from entirely Democratic to entirely Republican in a single election. That would not happen again until the Democrats swept both Senate seats in the Georgia runoffs in 2021.


1994 United States Senate elections
The elections marked the first time Republicans controlled the Senate since January 1987 and coincided with the first change of control in the House of Representatives since January 1955 and a Republican net gain of ten governorships. Collectively, the Republican gains are known as the Republican Revolution. Minority leader Robert J. Dole became Majority Leader, and on the Democratic side, Tom Daschle became Minority Leader after the retirement of the previous Democratic leader, George J. Mitchell. It was also the first time since 1980 that Republicans made net gains in the Senate but the last time until 2018 the Republicans also made gains among Class 1 senators.


1994 United States Senate elections
Initially, the balance was 52–48 in favor of the Republicans, but after the power change, the Democrats Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched parties and brought the balance to 54–46. The Democrat Ron Wyden won a 1996 special election to replace the Republican Bob Packwood, which left the balance at 53–47 before the next election cycle. As of 2021, it is the last election cycle in which Republicans won Senate elections in Delaware, Michigan, and Washington.


1994 United States Senate elections, Race summary, Special elections
In these special elections, the winners were elected and seated during 1994.


1994 United States Senate elections, Race summary, Elections leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1995; ordered by state.


1994 United States Senate elections, Arizona
Three-term Democratic incumbent Dennis DeConcini retired after being a member of the Keating Five Scandal. Republican Congressman Jon Kyl defeated his Democratic opponent, fellow Congressman Sam Coppersmith by a comfortable margin.


1994 United States Senate elections, California
Dianne Feinstein won a special election in 1992 to fill the seat of Governor Pete Wilson. She faced wealthy Republican Congressman Michael Huffington in her race for a full term. Feinstein emerged victorious by less than two points.


1994 United States Senate elections, California
After one term in the House representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, Huffington spent $8 million by the end of August and a total of $28 million during the entire campaign. He became wealthy off oil and gas. The race saw personal attacks on Huffington's wife, Arianna Huffington, who was very involved in the race (the media dubbed her the "Sir Edmund Hillary of social climbing," according to The Almanac of American Politics).


1994 United States Senate elections, California
Huffington was called a hypocrite for supporting Proposition 187 and then breaking the law for employing illegal aliens, a story which came out in the race's final days. A grand total of $44 million was spent in the election. At the time, it was the most expensive campaign in a non-presidential election in American history. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post named the election one of the nastiest senate elections in modern history.


1994 United States Senate elections, California
On election day it was a very close race, but Feinstein won Los Angeles County, which may have pulled her ahead. Her sizable win in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area may also be credited to her slim statewide victory.


1994 United States Senate elections, Connecticut
Freshman Democratic incumbent Joseph Lieberman easily won re-election over Republican physician Jerry Labriola.


1994 United States Senate elections, Delaware
Veteran Republican incumbent William Roth, seeking his fifth term, fended off a challenge from Charles Oberly, the state's three-term Democratic attorney general, beating him by 13 points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Florida
Republican incumbent Connie Mack III won a second term by scoring an easy re-election over attorney Hugh Rodham, brother of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.


1994 United States Senate elections, Florida
Rodham left the public defenders office to run for the United States Senate in Florida in 1994. He won the Democratic Party nomination by defeating Mike Wiley in a runoff election, after earlier finishing first in a four-person primary field with 34 percent. After the first primary, the third-place finisher, Miami lawyer Ellis Rubin joined forces with Rodham as a "senior executive consultant" and hatchet man.


1994 United States Senate elections, Florida
In the presence of Rodham at a press conference, Rubin levelled the accusation that Wiley was hiding his Jewish faith by changing his name from his birth name, Michael Schreibman, and that Wiley "changed his name before the campaign to deceive voters about his Jewish religion." Wiley accordingly refused to endorse Rodham after the runoff. Rodham then lost by a 70%–30% margin to incumbent senator Republican Connie Mack III in the general election.


1994 United States Senate elections, Florida
Although Bill and Hillary Clinton both campaigned for him, his organization was unable to take advantage of their help, he had few funds, almost no television commercials, and little support from the Florida Democratic party establishment in a year that saw Republican gains everywhere. After the election, Rubin switched allegiance again and charged Rodham with election law violations in the first primary; the Federal Elections Commission eventually dismissed the allegations.


1994 United States Senate elections, Hawaii
Democratic incumbent Daniel Akaka was first appointed to this seat April 1990 after the death of senator Spark Matsunaga. He won his first full term by defeating Republican cattle rancher Mary Hustace in a landslide.


1994 United States Senate elections, Indiana
Three-term Republican incumbent Richard Lugar scored an overwhelming 37-point win against former Democratic Rep. Jim Jontz, who was attempting a comeback after losing re-election in 1992.


1994 United States Senate elections, Indiana
Lugar won 91 of Indiana's 92 counties, Jontz won only the Democratic stronghold of Lake County.


1994 United States Senate elections, Maine
One of the Republicans' biggest prizes was the seat of retiring Majority Leader George Mitchell. Longtime Congresswoman Olympia Snowe gained the seat in a landslide victory over Democratic Congressman Thomas Andrews, a stark contrast to retiring senator Mitchell's landslide win six years prior.


1994 United States Senate elections, Maryland
Democratic incumbent Paul Sarbanes won a third term by soundly defeating Republican Bill Brock, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee (1971–77), RNC chairman (1977-81), U.S. Trade Representative (1981–85) and U.S. Secretary of Labor (1985–87).


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Ted Kennedy usually coasted to re-election, but in this election he faced an unusually tough challenge from Republican businessman Mitt Romney. Though the final result was a 17-point Kennedy victory, it marked the first time since his initial election in 1962 that Kennedy received less than 60% of the vote.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Romney defeated his closest competitor, John Lakian, to win the Republican primary with over 80% of the vote. He campaigned as a political moderate and Washington outsider, and posed the greatest challenge ever made against Kennedy for the Senate seat since he first took office in 1962. Democratic congressmen across the country were struggling to maintain their seats, and Kennedy in particular was damaged by character concerns and an ongoing divorce controversy. The contest became very close.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Kennedy launched ads criticizing Romney's tenure as the leader of the company known as Bain Capital, accusing him of treating workers unfairly and taking away jobs, while also criticizing what were widely considered to be Romney's shifting political views. Romney also performed inadequately in the debates between the two candidates, and made a number of poorly received statements that reduced his standing in the polls.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
In the closest Senate election of his career since after 1962, Kennedy won by a reasonably comfortable margin, despite a series of losses for Democrats around the country.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Romney was initially behind businessman John Lakian in the battle to win the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate. However, after using his personal wealth to advertise heavily on television, he gained overwhelming support at the state party convention.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Romney then defeated Lakian easily in the September 1994 Republican Party primary with over 80 percent of the vote.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the younger, telegenic, and very well-funded Romney. Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues. After two decades out of public view, his father George re-emerged during the campaign. George Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Kennedy was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of the Chappaquiddick incident and his first wife Joan Bennett Kennedy seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Some early polls showed Romney close to Kennedy. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even. One Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error. In another September poll, Romney had a 43 to 42 percent lead. President Bill Clinton traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Religion became an issue for a while, after Kennedy's campaign said it was fair to ask Romney about his LDS Church's past policy of not allowing blacks into the priesthood. Romney accused Kennedy of having violated senator John F. Kennedy's famous September 1960 pledge not to allow his own Catholic doctrine to inform policy, made during his ultimately victorious presidential campaign. George Romney forcefully interjected during his son's press conference, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture."


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company, Ampad, bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital. They showed interviews with its union workers who had been fired and who criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, with one saying, "I don't think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away."


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Kennedy's charges were effective, as more voters decided that Romney was interested in profits more than people.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Kennedy's attack ads also focused both on Romney's shifting political views; although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion rights established under Roe v. Wade, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice." Romney said his stance dated back to his mother, Lenore Romney, and her position during her 1970 U.S. Senate campaign: "My mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that." Nevertheless, women's groups and Democrats viewed Romney's position with suspicion. (In subsequent years, Romney became pro-life and opposed Roe.)


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a second mortgage on his Virginia home. Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein–Michael Huffington Senate race in California). Kennedy's new wife Vicki Reggie Kennedy proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
By early October, Kennedy was ahead by 49 to 44 percent in a poll by The Boston Globe. In their first televised debate, held at Faneuil Hall on October 25, Kennedy came out charging with his aging but still booming voice; regarding the Ampad deal, he said to Romney, "I don't know why you wouldn't meet with the strikers with that flimflam deal of yours out there in Indiana."


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Romney charged that Kennedy had benefited from a real-estate deal that had been done on a no-bid basis, but Kennedy responded with a rehearsed line: "Mr. Romney, the Kennedys are not in public service to make money. We have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service of this country." Each candidate was asked to discuss one of their own failings. In a dramatic moment, Kennedy indirectly referred to his personal problems and acknowledged that he was "painfully aware" that on such occasions he had let his supporters down.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
By contrast, Romney mentioned work for several local charities he was engaged with on a near daily basis. When the moderator reminded him of the question, Romney responded "I guess what I regret is that I'm not able to provide even more help for those less fortunate than myself.... I wish I could do even more." Kennedy won this key debate as he reconnected with his traditional bases of support: two polls of voters conducted afterwards both showed Kennedy as the victor in the debate.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
One post-debate October general election poll showed Kennedy leading 50 percent to 32, and another by 56 to 36 percent. A second debate, held two days later at Holyoke Community College, focused more on policy details and lacked the intensity of the first one; Romney failed to gain any traction from it.


1994 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
In the November general election, despite a very bad result for Democrats overall, Kennedy won re-election by a 58 percent to 41 percent margin, the closest re-election race of his career; only his initial victory in the 1962 Senate special election in Massachusetts was closer.


1994 United States Senate elections, Michigan
Democratic senator Donald W. Riegle Jr. retired after three terms. Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Spencer Abraham defeated Democratic Congressman Milton Robert Carr in the race to succeed Riegle.


1994 United States Senate elections, Michigan
Riegle, a three-term incumbent, was considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats in the 1994 mid-term elections due to the unpopularity of President Bill Clinton and his being involved as a member of the Keating Five, a group of five senators who were accused of corruption. After months of speculation, Riegle announced he would not seek a 4th term in a speech on the Senate floor.


1994 United States Senate elections, Minnesota
Incumbent Republican David Durenberger decided to retire instead of seeking a third full term. Republican Rod Grams won the open seat. After surviving a messy Republican primary, former TV news anchor and one-term Rep. Rod Grams defeated his Democratic opponent, former state assembly minority leader Ann Wynia by five points for the seat being vacated by incumbent Republican Dave Durenberger.


1994 United States Senate elections, Mississippi
Republican incumbent Trent Lott won a second term by easily defeating former Democratic state senator Ken Harper.


1994 United States Senate elections, Missouri
Republican senator John Danforth retired after three terms. Former Republican Gov. John Ashcroft defeated his Democratic opponent, six-term Rep. Alan Wheat by more than twenty points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Montana
Democrat Jack Mudd, former dean of the University of Montana law school, defeated former U.S. senator John Melcher in the Democratic primary and then went on to lose to Republican incumbent Conrad Burns, who was seeking a second term.


1994 United States Senate elections, Nebraska
Democrat Bob Kerrey won re-election over Republican Jan Stoney, Vice President of Personnel at Northwestern Bell, by ten points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Nevada
Democratic incumbent Richard H. Bryan scored a ten-point win over Republican Hal Furman, a water policy advisor for the Interior Department.


1994 United States Senate elections, New Jersey
Two-term Democratic incumbent Frank Lautenberg narrowly defeated his Republican opponent, state assembly speaker Chuck Haytaian by three points.


1994 United States Senate elections, New Mexico
Two-term Democratic incumbent Jeff Bingaman defeated his Republican opponent, former George H. W. Bush Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin McMillan by eight points.


1994 United States Senate elections, New York
Veteran Democratic incumbent Daniel Patrick Moynihan easily defeated his Republican opponent, businesswoman Bernadette Castro.


1994 United States Senate elections, New York
1994 was significant for the Republican Revolution, mostly as a referendum against President Bill Clinton and his health care plan, and was seen as a tough year for Democratic incumbents. Moynihan, however, was New York State's most popular politician at the time, and ran ahead of all other Democrats competing statewide.


1994 United States Senate elections, New York
Republican Castro was running for office for the first time and had trouble raising funds due to being seen as unlikely to win; at times during the race she trailed by up to 30 percentage points. She portrayed herself as a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican in the mold of Governor of New Jersey Christie Todd Whitman, and attempted to portray Moynihan as excessively liberal and prone to government spending. But Moynihan repeated his past strong performance among upstate voters, in addition to the usual Democratic strongholds in New York City.


1994 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
Incumbent Dem-NPL-er Kent Conrad won re-election to his first full term as senior senator, although technically his second term in the position, having served the end of Quentin Burdick's term after his death. Conrad also had served an additional term as senator, but as junior senator from 1986 to 1992.


1994 United States Senate elections, Ohio
Senator Howard Metzenbaum retired and his son-in-law Joel Hyatt received the Democratic nomination to succeed him. Hyatt would go on to be badly defeated by Lieutenant Governor Mike DeWine.


1994 United States Senate elections, Oklahoma (special)
Incumbent Democrat David L. Boren decided to resign his position to accept the position as President of the University of Oklahoma, which prompted a special election. Republican Congressman Jim Inhofe defeated the Democratic Congressman Dave McCurdy.


1994 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
Democrat Harris Wofford was appointed to the Senate when three-term Republican H. John Heinz III died in a 1991 plane crash. He won a special election to hold that seat later that year. In his tough re-election against Republican Congressman Rick Santorum, the pro-choice Wofford lost the endorsement of pro-life Democratic Governor Robert Casey. This contributed to his loss to Santorum by two percentage points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
Wofford's campaign was hurt from the outset by his strong connection with President Bill Clinton's failed healthcare reform proposals; Wofford had made working toward universal healthcare a crucial issue in his prior campaign and was one of the executive's strongest allies on the issue. After this failure, however, the senator ran a relatively passive campaign. He instead attempted to focus attention on his challenger, an arch-conservative who did not attempt to moderate his views after the primary election.


1994 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
The polarizing Santorum took strong positions against abortion, gay rights, and affirmative action, and he even clashed with some of the traditional fixtures of the state's moderate Republican establishment. Early in the campaign and with little statewide name recognition, Santorum made a critical error by attacking Social Security, and Wofford appeared to be in relatively safe position. However, Santorum ran an effective grassroots campaign and specifically targeted many union Democrats who had reservations about the liberal social values advocated by many of their party's leaders.


1994 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Santorum was greatly helped by strong Republican enthusiasm because of anger over Clinton's failed initiatives. He solidified his status by running a series of positive ads that attempted to define his character strengths and to contrast with Wofford's negative commercials. Santorum eventually received a close victory by performing well (and nearly winning) his home in the suburban Pittsburgh region and through particularly low turnout in Democratic strongholds, such as Philadelphia, Scranton, and Pittsburgh cities.


1994 United States Senate elections, Rhode Island
Moderate Republican incumbent John Chafee, seeking a fourth term, defeated Democratic state representative Linda Kushner by 28-points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee
Due to the resignation of Al Gore in 1993 to become Vice President, there were two senate elections in Tennessee as both seats were up for election.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (regular)
One of the biggest upsets of the night was the defeat of three-term Democrat Jim Sasser. Sasser had been the influential Chairman of the Budget Committee and was among the leading candidates to replace Mitchell as Democratic Floor Leader. Sasser, however, would be defeated by prominent Nashville heart surgeon Bill Frist by 14 points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (regular)
There were two unforeseen events that affected the campaign. One was the large scale of discontent that the American people seemed to have toward the first two years of the Clinton administration, especially the proposal for a national healthcare system largely put together and advocated by Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton. The other was the somewhat unexpected nomination of Nashville heart transplant surgeon Bill Frist for the seat by the Republicans.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (regular)
Frist, who had never voted until he was 36, was a political unknown and a total novice at campaigning, but was from one of Nashville's most prominent and wealthiest medical families, which gave him some name recognition, as well as adequate enough resources to match the campaign war chest built up by the three-term incumbent, a challenge most "insurgent" candidates find to be impossible.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (regular)
A further factor working to Frist's advantage was a simultaneous Republican campaign by actor and attorney Fred Thompson for the other Tennessee Senate seat, which was open due to Al Gore resigning to become Vice President of the United States. Another factor in Frist's favor was that Sasser was never seen as possessing much charisma of his own. During the campaign Nashville radio stations were derisive towards Sasser to the point of stating that he could only win "a Kermit The Frog lookalike contest." In one of the largest upsets in a night of political upsets in the November 1994 U.S. general elections, Frist defeated the incumbent Sasser by approximately 14 percentage points.


1994 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (special)
Less surprising was the Republican victory in the other Tennessee Senate contest. Harlan Matthews had held the seat since Al Gore's resignation to assume the Vice Presidency in 1993, but chose not to seek the Democratic nomination in the special election. The Republican actor and attorney Fred Thompson, defeated six-term Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper in an overwhelming landslide.


1994 United States Senate elections, Texas
Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, having just won a special election the previous June for the seat vacated by Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, easily defeated Democrat Richard W. Fisher, an investment banker.


1994 United States Senate elections, Utah
Veteran Republican incumbent Orrin Hatch delivered a 40-point defeat to his Democratic opponent, attorney Patrick Shea.


1994 United States Senate elections, Vermont
Moderate Republican Jim Jeffords won a second term, defeating Democratic state senator Jan Backus and independent Gavin Mills. He won every county in the state.


1994 United States Senate elections, Virginia
Democrat Chuck Robb received over 70% of the vote when first elected in 1988, but struggled to win re-election. Furor over Robb's alleged affair with model Tai Collins provided plenty of momentum for the Republican Iran-Contra figure Oliver North. A factor to Robb's advantage was the independent candidacy of attorney J. Marshall Coleman. North likely lost votes to Coleman especially when Virginia's other senator, Republican John Warner, endorsed Coleman over North. Robb received 46% of the vote to North's 43% with Coleman garnering 11%.


1994 United States Senate elections, Virginia
Oliver North was a very controversial figure as he was involved in the Iran-Contra Affair, a scandal during Ronald Reagan's presidency. Marshall Coleman attempted to seize the middle ground between Robb and North. Republican senator John Warner of Virginia endorsed Marshall Coleman. On the eve of the election, former first lady Nancy Reagan told a reporter that North had lied to her husband when discussing Iran-Contra with the former president, effectively eviscerating him. North's candidacy was documented in the 1996 film A Perfect Candidate.


1994 United States Senate elections, Virginia
In his failed bid to unseat Robb, North raised $20.3 million in a single year through nationwide direct mail solicitations, telemarketing, fundraising events, and contributions from major donors. About $16 million of that amount was from direct mail alone. This was the biggest accumulation of direct mail funds for a statewide campaign to that date, and it made North the top direct mail political fundraiser in the country in 1994.


1994 United States Senate elections, Virginia
Douglas Wilder, the first black Governor of Virginia, who served from 1990-1994, originally entered the Senate race as an independent before dropping out.


1994 United States Senate elections, Washington
Republican incumbent Slade Gorton, seeking his third non-consecutive term, defeated his Democratic opponent, King County Councilman Ron Sims.


1994 United States Senate elections, West Virginia
Democratic incumbent Robert Byrd, first elected in 1958, easily defeated his Republican opponent State Committee Finance Chairman Stanley L. Klos.


1994 United States Senate elections, West Virginia
Klos campaigned as a "sacrificial lamb" against Robert C. Byrd participating in the Republican U.S. Senatorial Committee's strategy to re-capture a majority in the United States Senate in 1994. Byrd spent $1,550,354 to Klos' $267,165. Additionally the Democratic Party invested over $1 million in that state's campaign to the Republican Party's $15,000. The GOP captured a majority in the U.S. Senate. The highlights of the campaign included the hiring of an actor to play Robert C. Byrd who toured in staged Statewide Debates when the incumbent refused Klos's invitation for a series of formal senate debates.


1994 United States Senate elections, West Virginia
The campaign also organized successful demonstrations against the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Health Care Bus as it traveled through West Virginia in the summer of 1994. Senator Byrd, while the bill was being debated on the Senate floor rose suggesting the brakes be put on approving National Health Care measure while the bus was completing its tour in WV. To Klos's credit, the campaign did not implement the "Death by a Thousand Cuts" plan proposed by strategists which was later acknowledged in speeches given and letters written by U.S. senator Byrd.


1994 United States Senate elections, Wisconsin
Democratic incumbent Herb Kohl had little trouble winning a second term over former Republican state assemblyman Robert Welch.


1994 United States Senate elections, Wyoming
Republican incumbent Malcolm Wallop retired after three terms. Republican Rep. Craig Thomas trounced Mike Sullivan, the state's two-term Democratic governor by twenty points.


1994 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma
The 1994 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator David Boren decided to resign his position to accept the position as president of the University of Oklahoma, which prompted a special election. Republican Jim Inhofe won the open seat.


1994 United States Senate special election in Tennessee
The 1994 United States Senate special election in Tennessee was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic Senator Al Gore resigned from the Senate following his election as Vice President of the United States in 1992, and this led to the 1993 appointment of Harlan Mathews and the subsequent special election. Mathews did not seek election to a full term, and Representative Jim Cooper subsequently became the Democratic nominee. However, Republican nominee Fred Thompson won the seat in a decisive victory.


1994 United States Senate special election in Tennessee
The election was held concurrently with the regular Class 1 Tennessee Senate election, in which Republican Bill Frist defeated incumbent Democrat Jim Sasser. As a result of Thompson and Frist's simultaneous victories in Tennessee, the two elections marked the first time since 1978 that both Senate seats in a state have flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle. The next time this was repeated was in Georgia in 2020 and 2021 where both the regular election and the special election went from incumbent Republicans to Democrats.


1994 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia
The 1994 Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia took place on November 8, 1994, to elect a shadow member to the United States House of Representatives to represent the District of Columbia. Unlike non-voting delegates, the Shadow Representative is only recognized by the District of Columbia and is not officially sworn or seated. Two-term incumbent and inaugural office-holder Charles Moreland declined to run for reelection and was succeeded by fellow Democrat John Capozzi.


1994 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, Primary elections, Democratic primary, Results
Two Democratic candidates filed to appear on the ballot. Keith Mitchell, director of a charity that worked with the homeless, was disqualified from the ballot because on his ballot petition, a number of homeless voters signed and gave their mailing addresses rather than the addresses where they were registered. After he was disqualified from the primary ballot, Mitchell announced he would run as an independent candidate in the general election


1994 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, Primary elections, Other primaries
Primaries were held for the Republican and Statehood parties but no candidates were on the ballot and only write-in votes were cast. Turpin and McAllister of the Republican and Statehood parties, respectively, both were nominated through write-in votes. McAllister was also nominated for delegate through write-ins but only accepted the nomination for Shadow Representative.


1994 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, General election
The general election took place on November 15. Keith Mitchell, who ran as an independent after being disqualified from the Democratic primary ballot, withdrew from the race prior to election day. Turpin stated that he opposed statehood for DC and said that increased employment was more important than statehood. He also promised to create 1,000 jobs if elected.


1994 United States Shadow Senator election in the District of Columbia
The 1994 United States Senate election in the District of Columbia took place on November 8, 1994, to elect a shadow member to the United States Senate to represent the District of Columbia. The member is only recognized by the District of Columbia and is not officially sworn or seated by the United States Senate.


1994 United States Shadow Senator election in the District of Columbia
Incumbent Shadow Senator Florence Pendleton won reelection to a second term.


1994 United States Shadow Senator election in the District of Columbia, Primary elections, Democratic primary, Campaign
Pendleton, first elected four years earlier as one of the first two Shadow Senators from the District, faced Stephen "Steve" Sellows, an advocate for the rights of the disabled. Pendleton easily won the primary, and Sellows was beaten to death less than a year following the election.


1994 United States Shadow Senator election in the District of Columbia, General election
Pendleton faced Republican Julie Finley, the chairwoman of the District of Columbia Republican Party (who won the Republican nomination via write-ins), and D.C. Statehood candidate Mel Edwards, a public relations expert. As is usual for Democrats in the District, Pendleton won in a landslide.


1994 United States Soccer Federation presidential election
The 1994 United States Soccer Federation presidential election was held on August 13, 1994 to determine the next President of the United States Soccer Federation. Alan I. Rothenberg was re-elected by defending Richard Groff & Hank Des Bordes on the second ballot.


1994 United States Virgin Islands gambling referendum
A referendum on legalising casino gambling was held in the United States Virgin Islands in November 1994, alongside general elections. It was a repeat of the 1992 referendum, which saw the proposal rejected by a narrow margin. This time the proposal was rejected in St Thomas and St John but approved in St Croix.


1994 United States Virgin Islands gambling referendum, Aftermath
Following the referendum, the Legislature voted to legalised casino gambling in St Croix by a vote of 9–6 on 27 April 1995. Governor Roy Schneider signed the bill into law on 8 May.


1994 United States elections
The 1994 United States elections were held on November 8, 1994. The elections occurred in the middle of Democratic President Bill Clinton's first term in office, and elected the members of 104th United States Congress. The elections have been described as the "Republican Revolution" because the Republican Party captured unified control of Congress for the first time since 1952. Republicans picked up eight seats in the Senate and won a net of 54 seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans also picked up a net of ten governorships and took control of many state legislative chambers.


1994 United States elections
Republicans were able to nationalize the election by campaigning on a "Contract with America," and the new Republican majorities passed conservative legislation such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, and the Defense of Marriage Act. The election was a major defeat for Clinton's health care plan, but Clinton's subsequent move to the center may have helped him win re-election in 1996. George W. Bush's election as Governor of Texas laid the groundwork for his successful campaign for president in 2000.


1994 United States elections
The Republicans heavily attacked Clinton for reneging on his "New Democrat" philosophy that he had run on in 1992. Clinton had passed a tax increase and an assault weapons ban in his first two years in office and had allowed homosexuals to be in the military, sparking backlash. Clinton's push for universal healthcare was the straw that broke the camel's back, as the GOP ran heavily against it in the midterms and is argued to be the main reason why the Democrats faced heavy losses in 1994.


1994 United States elections, Federal elections, Senate elections
In the Senate elections, Republicans successfully defended all of their seats and won eight from the Democrats, defeating incumbent Senators Harris Wofford (Pennsylvania) and Jim Sasser (Tennessee), in addition to picking up six open seats in Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Notably, since Sasser's defeat coincided with a Republican victory in the special election to replace Al Gore, Tennessee's Senate delegation switched from entirely Democratic to entirely Republican in a single election. Minority leader Robert J. Dole became Majority Leader, while on the Democratic side, Tom Daschle became Minority Leader after the retirement of the previous Democratic leader, George J. Mitchell.


1994 United States elections, Federal elections, Senate elections
Initially, the balance was 52–48 in favor of the Republicans, but after the power change, Democrats Richard Shelby and Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched parties, bringing the balance to 54–46. The Democrats took back a seat in January 1996 in a special election in Oregon when Ron Wyden won an open seat left vacated by a Republican.


1994 United States elections, Federal elections, House of Representatives elections
Republicans won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 6.8 percentage points and picked up 54 seats. The South underwent a drastic transformation, as Republicans picked up 19 Southern seats, leaving them with more seats than Democrats in the South, last achieved during Reconstruction. 34 incumbents, all Democrats, were defeated. The incumbent Speaker, Democrat Tom Foley, lost re-election in his district, becoming the first Speaker of the House to lose re-election since Galusha Grow in 1863.


1994 United States elections, Federal elections, House of Representatives elections
Other major upsets included the defeat of House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski and House Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks. 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.


1994 United States elections, State elections
Heading into the election, there were 21 seats held by Democrats, 14 held by Republicans, and one by an independent. By the end of the elections, 11 seats would be held by Democrats, 24 by Republicans, and one by an independent.


1994 United States elections, Contract with America
During the election campaign, the United States Republican Party released a document that it called the Contract with America. Written by Larry Hunter, who was aided by Newt Gingrich, Robert Walker, Richard Armey, Bill Paxon, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Jim Nussle, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the Contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives, last achieved in 1952. Many of the Contract's policy ideas originated at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The Contract with America was signed by all but two of the Republican members of the House and all of the Party's non-incumbent Republican Congressional candidates.


1994 United States elections, Contract with America
Proponents say the Contract was revolutionary in its commitment to offering specific legislation for a vote, describing in detail the precise plan of the Congressional Representatives, last achieved during the 1918 Congressional election had been run broadly on a national level. Furthermore, its provisions represented the view of many conservative Republicans on the issues of shrinking the size of government, promoting lower taxes and greater entrepreneurial activity, and both tort reform and welfare reform.


1994 United States elections, Contract with America
In 2014, historian John Steele Gordon, writing in The American, an online magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute, said that "(t)he main reason (for the Republican victory in 1994) was surely the Contract with America..." in part because it "nationalized the election, making it one of reform versus business as usual. The people voted for reform." He said that the Contract "turned out to be a brilliant political ploy. The contract tuned in to the American electorate’s deep yearning for reform in Washington, a yearning that had expressed itself in the elections of both (U.S. Presidents) Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan."


1994 United States federal budget
The 1994 United States federal budget is the United States federal budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 1994, which was October 1993 – September 1994. This budget was the first federal budget submitted by Bill Clinton.


1994 United States federal budget, Outlays
The total outlays for FY1994 was 1.46 trillion dollars as authorized by congress.


1994 United States federal budget, Outlays, Deficit/Surplus
The budget had an estimated deficit for enacted legislation of $203 billion.2.8% of GDP


1994 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 1994, in 36 states and two territories. Many seats held by Democratic governors switched to the Republicans during the time known as the Republican Revolution.