Editing Republican Revolution (section)

==History==
Rather than campaigning independently in each district, Republican candidates chose to rally behind a single national program and message fronted by Georgia congressman and House Republican whip [[Newt Gingrich]]. They alleged that President [[Bill Clinton]] was not the "[[New Democrats (United States)|New Democrat]]" he claimed to be during his 1992 campaign, but was a "[[tax and spend]]" liberal. The Republicans offered an alternative to Clinton's policies in the form of the [[Contract with America]].<ref name="clinton1">{{Cite web |last=Rothenberg |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart Rothenberg |date=October 23, 2006 |title=How High the Wave? Don't Just Think 1994; Think 1974, 1958, 1982 |url=http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/news/article/how-high-the-wave-dont-just-think-1994-think-1974-1958-1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622062347/http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/news/article/how-high-the-wave-dont-just-think-1994-think-1974-1958-1982 |archive-date=2011-06-22 |access-date=2015-01-11 |website=RothenbergPoliticalReport.com}}</ref>

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 40 years, since the [[83rd United States Congress|83rd Congress]] (elected in [[1952 United States House of Representatives elections|1952]]). From 1933 to 1995, Republicans had controlled both House and Senate for only four years. From 1933 into the early 1970s, most white conservatives in the South belonged to the Democratic Party, and created the [[Solid South]] bloc in Congress. Most African Americans in the South were [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] in those years, based on [[Jim Crow laws|anti-Black laws]] and [[Black suffrage in the United States|subjective administration]] of voter registration practices.

By the mid-1990s, white conservatives from the South joined Republicans in other parts of the country, leading to the change in Congress. Large Republican gains were made in state houses as well when the GOP picked up twelve gubernatorial seats and 472 legislative seats. In so doing, it took control of 20 state legislatures from the Democrats. Prior to this, Republicans had not held the majority of governorships since 1970. In addition, this was the first time in 50 years that the GOP controlled a majority of state legislatures.

Discontent with Democratic candidates was foreshadowed by a string of elections after 1992, including Republicans winning the mayoralties of [[New York City|New York]] and [[Los Angeles]] in 1993. In that same year, [[Christine Todd Whitman]] [[1993 New Jersey gubernatorial election|won]] the New Jersey governorship. [[Bret Schundler]] became the first Republican mayor of [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], which had been held by the Democratic Party since 1917.

Republican [[George Allen (American politician)|George Allen]] won the [[1993 Virginia gubernatorial election]], and Texas Republican [[Kay Bailey Hutchison]] won a U.S. Senate seat from the Democrats in the [[1993 United States Senate special election in Texas|1993 special election]]. Republicans also picked up three congressional seats from Democrats in [[1994 United States House of Representatives elections#Oklahoma|Oklahoma]] and [[1994 United States House of Representatives elections#Kentucky|Kentucky]] in May 1994.

On November 9, 1994, the day after the election, Senator [[Richard Shelby]] of Alabama, a [[conservative Democrat]], changed parties, becoming a Republican; on March 3, 1995, [[Colorado]] Senator [[Ben Nighthorse Campbell]] switched to the Republican side as well, increasing the GOP Senate majority.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: Senators Who Changed Parties During Senate Service (Since 1890) |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/senators_changed_parties.htm#16 |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=Senate.gov |publisher=[[United States Senate]]}}</ref>