| Republican Revolution |
Article Index for Republican |
Website Links For Republican |
Information AboutRepublican Revolution |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION | |
| 1994 in the united states | |
| political history of the united states | |
|
The Republican Revolution is what the Republican Party dubbed their success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in A Net Gain Of 54 Seats in the House Of Representatives , and A Pickup Of Eight Seats in the Senate . The day after the election, Democratic Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama changed parties, becoming a Republican. The gains in seats in the mid-term election resulted in the Republicans gaining control of both the House and the Senate in January 1995. Republicans had not held the majority in the House for forty years, since the 83rd Congress (elected in 1952 ) under Republican Speaker Joseph William Martin, Jr. . Large Republican gains were made in statehouses as well when the GOP picked up twelve governor seats and 472 legislative seats. In so doing, it took control of 20 state legislatures from the Democrats. Prior to this, Republican had not held the majority of governorships since 1972. In addition, this was the first time in 50 years that the GOP controlled a majority of state legislatures. Discontent against the Democrats was foreshadowed by a string of elections after 1992, the more notable among them being the capture of the mayoralties of New York and Los Angeles by the Republicans in 1993. In that same year, Christine Todd Whitman captured the New Jersey governorship from the Democrats and Bret Schundler became the mayor of overwhelmingly Democratic Jersey City. The pace of Republican victories in off-year elections gained momentum. Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison took a senate seat from the Democrats in Texas. Republican Ron Lewis picked up a congressional seat from Democrats in Kentucky in May 1994. Democratic President Bill Clinton said in his January 1996 State Of The Union Address , "The era of big government is over." Later in 1996, Republicans would fail to defeat Clinton's re-election bid. The 2006 mid-term elections and the low approval ratings of President Bush may be seen as the end of the Republican Revolution.1 FRESHMEN OF 1994 Many current leaders in the Republican Party and other notables were first elected to national or state office as part of the Republican Revolution:
RAMIFICATIONS When the 104th United States Congress convened in January 1995, House Republicans voted former Minority Whip Newt Gingrich – the chief architect of their victory and author of the Contract With America – Speaker Of The House , while the new senatorial Republican majority chose Bob Dole , previously Minority Leader , as Majority Leader . With their newfound power, Republicans pursued an ambitious agenda but were often forced to compromise with President Clinton, who wielded Veto power. In the House, the Republican takeover was accompanied by significant structural changes in House rules. The relative power of once-powerful Committee and Subcommittee chairs was weakened, centralizing power within the Republican House delegation under the party leadership. For example, a six-year Term Limit was imposed on committee chairmanships, and a "subcommittee bill of rights" passed in the 1970s was repealed. Speaker Gingrich also bypassed the seniority system in appointing conservative loyalists to lead key committees such as Appropriations , Judiciary , and Commerce . In the Senate, changes were less substantial. The 1994 election also marked the end of the Conservative Coalition , a bipartisan coalition of conservative Republicans and Democrats (often referred to as " Boll Weevil Democrats " for their association with the U.S. South ), which had often managed to control Congressional outcomes since the New Deal era. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS In the 1996 and 1998 elections, Republicans lost Congressional seats but still retained control of the House and, more narrowly, the Senate. After the 2000 election, the Senate was divided evenly between the parties, with Republicans retaining the right to organize the Senate due to the election of Dick Cheney as Vice President and ex officio presiding officer of the Senate. The Senate shifted to control by the Democrats after GOP senator Jim Jeffords changed party registration to "Independent" in June 2001, but later returned to Republican control after the November 2002 elections. In the 2006 elections, Democrats won both the House of Representatives (233 Democrats, 202 Republicans) and the Senate (49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 2 Independents Caucusing with the Democrats) as well as the majority of state governorships (28-22). This event may be seen as the end of the Republican Revolution.2 REFERENCES |
|
|