United States Senate elections, 1994

United States Senate elections, 1994

← 1992 November 8, 1994 1996 →
Class 1 (33 of the 100 seats) and two mid-term vacancies from Class 2 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Bob Dole Tom Daschle Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Kansas South Dakota Last election 43 seats 57 seats Seats before 44 56 Seats won 52 48 Seat change 8 8 Popular vote 28,613,349 25,234,942 Percentage 49.9% 44.0% Swing 5.5% 5.2% Seats up 13 22
Republican gain   Republican hold   Democratic hold
Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader Bob Dole Republican

George Mitchell
Democratic

Bob Dole
Republican

The United States Senate elections, 1994 was an election held on November 8, 1994, in which the Republican Party was able to take control of the Senate from the Democrats. In a midterm election, the opposition Republicans held the traditional advantage. Congressional Republicans campaigned against the early presidency of Bill Clinton, including his unsuccessful health care plan.

The Republicans successfully defended all of its seats and captured eight seats from the Democrats, including the seats of sitting Senators Harris Wofford (PA) and Jim Sasser (TN), as well as 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.

This election 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, these Republican gains are known as the Republican Revolution. Minority leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) became Majority Leader, while on the Democratic side, Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) became Minority Leader after the retirement of the previous Democratic leader, George J. Mitchell (D-Maine). This was also the first time since 1980 that Republicans made net gains in the Senate, but the last time the Republicans also made gains among class 1 senators.