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Description
In a country where midterm elections are almost invariably overshadowed by the more glamorous quadrennial presidential contests, 1994 is probably the single most famous midterm in American history. Indeed, it is the only one that has a commonly recognised name of its own - the "Republican Revolution".

In 1992, after three consecutive terms in power, the Republicans had finally lost the presidency to the Democrats, who also continued to control the federal House and Senate and many state legislatures. President Clinton pursued an ambitious healthcare reform plan, dubbed 'Hillarycare' by some due to the First Lady's role in leading the taskforce. The Republicans and healthcare industry replied with the seminal "Harry and Louise" propaganda ad campaign and Democrats ultimately failed to unite behind the Clinton proposals, meaning the original bill had died even before the midterms took place.

This clash helped give the GOP fuel for the contest, but it was not merely a disfocused sense of vague resentment as many midterms had been determined by before. Led by House Minority Leader Newt Gingrich, the Republicans' genius was essentially to treat the midterm as though it was a parliamentary election, presenting a manifesto to the voters - the 'Contract with America' - and nationalising what had formerly been treated as a series of separate local elections. The Democrats, meanwhile, were still fighting yesterday's war, relying on the fact that their continued control of state legislatures had allowed them to create heavily gerrymandered maps in 1992 (though in the case of Louisiana this had since been watered down by the courts). Nonetheless, the Republican strategy was powerful enough to overcome much of this gerrymandering (except perhaps in the case of Texas) and blast through to topple fifty-four Democratic Representatives and six Democratic Senators. Not a single Republican incumbent was defeated. This delivered control of both Houses to the Republicans for the first time since the elections of, astonishingly, 1952. The Republicans also gained ten governorships and made progress in the state legislatures.

In examinations of 1994, the South is often specifically pointed out: for the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans now outnumbered Democrats in Southern congressional delegations. However, the South was still electing plenty of Democrats and the state legislatures took much longer to shift over: this process would not really be completed until the similar Republican wave of 2010. Though 1994 was described as nationalised at the time, it was still much more local in character than later elections. It has been described as the last hurrah of old-school Yankee liberal Republicanism, with some success in New England that would later fade due to the centre of the gravity of the party heading more towards Southern values. On the Pacific coast, the Republicans gained the California state house (something unthinkable today) and Washington State was particularly targeted, with Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley losing his seat - the first incumbent Speaker to do so since 1862.

Ultimately, analysts suggested that the heart of the Republicans' success lay in exploiting American voters' discontent with, and desire for reform in, Washington DC. Like every other campaign branding itself as such a reform, it would disappoint those voters. The only reform that the new Republican Congress would bring would be to wreck the remaining New Deal welfare programmes, aided by Clinton's 'triangulation' to survive. 1994 was not the final end of the Solid South - that would take several years more to complete itself - but it was unquestionably the end of the New Deal Coalition which had made the Democrats the dominant party in Congress and the states, if not always the White House, for the past sixty years following FDR's first victory. Rather than achieving universal healthcare as it had hoped, the Clinton Administration would ultimately move the United States even farther away from European-style social democracy.

Description
In a country where midterm elections are almost invariably overshadowed by the more glamorous quadrennial presidential contests, 1994 is probably the single most famous midterm in American history. Indeed, it is the only one that has a commonly recognised name of its own - the "Republican Revolution".

In 1992, after three consecutive terms in power, the Republicans had finally lost the presidency to the Democrats, who also continued to control the federal House and Senate and many state legislatures. President Clinton pursued an ambitious healthcare reform plan, dubbed 'Hillarycare' by some due to the First Lady's role in leading the taskforce. The Republicans and healthcare industry replied with the seminal "Harry and Louise" propaganda ad campaign and Democrats ultimately failed to unite behind the Clinton proposals, meaning the original bill had died even before the midterms took place.

This clash helped give the GOP fuel for the contest, but it was not merely a disfocused sense of vague resentment as many midterms had been determined by before. Led by House Minority Leader Newt Gingrich, the Republicans' genius was essentially to treat the midterm as though it was a parliamentary election, presenting a manifesto to the voters - the 'Contract with America' - and nationalising what had formerly been treated as a series of separate local elections. The Democrats, meanwhile, were still fighting yesterday's war, relying on the fact that their continued control of state legislatures had allowed them to create heavily gerrymandered maps in 1992 (though in the case of Louisiana this had since been watered down by the courts). Nonetheless, the Republican strategy was powerful enough to overcome much of this gerrymandering (except perhaps in the case of Texas) and blast through to topple fifty-four Democratic Representatives and six Democratic Senators. Not a single Republican incumbent was defeated. This delivered control of both Houses to the Republicans for the first time since the elections of, astonishingly, 1952. The Republicans also gained ten governorships and made progress in the state legislatures.

In examinations of 1994, the South is often specifically pointed out: for the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans now outnumbered Democrats in Southern congressional delegations. However, the South was still electing plenty of Democrats and the state legislatures took much longer to shift over: this process would not really be completed until the similar Republican wave of 2010. Though 1994 was described as nationalised at the time, it was still much more local in character than later elections. It has been described as the last hurrah of old-school Yankee liberal Republicanism, with some success in New England that would later fade due to the centre of the gravity of the party heading more towards Southern values. On the Pacific coast, the Republicans gained the California state house (something unthinkable today) and Washington State was particularly targeted, with Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley losing his seat - the first incumbent Speaker to do so since 1862.

Ultimately, analysts suggested that the heart of the Republicans' success lay in exploiting American voters' discontent with, and desire for reform in, Washington DC. Like every other campaign branding itself as such a reform, it would disappoint those voters. The only reform that the new Republican Congress would bring would be to wreck the remaining New Deal welfare programmes, aided by Clinton's 'triangulation' to survive. 1994 was not the final end of the Solid South - that would take several years more to complete itself - but it was unquestionably the end of the New Deal Coalition which had made the Democrats the dominant party in Congress and the states, if not always the White House, for the past sixty years following FDR's first victory. Rather than achieving universal healthcare as it had hoped, the Clinton Administration would ultimately move the United States even farther away from European-style social democracy.