United States Congressional Elections 1994

In a victory of historic proportions, Republicans on Tuesday seized control of the Senate and the House, setting the stage for a frontal collision between a resurgent conservative Congress and a battered Democratic Administration. Voter repudiation of the Democrats only two years after the party regained control of the White House marks a sharp turn away from the message of activist government on which President Clinton had campaigned in 1992.

The major races in the Midwest: Senate races: 8 House races: 105 Governor: 9 Governor--Incumbent Republican Jim Edgar quashed challenges from Democrat Dawn Clark Netsch, the state comptroller, and David Kelley. Edgar had held a huge lead in both money and poll numbers during the race. * House--Democrats lost two of the state's 20 seats, leaving the two parties with 10 seats apiece.

Flags were at half-staff over the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in memory of retiring Rep. Dean A. Gallo (R-N.J.), who died over the weekend, but stunned Republican and Democratic congressional staff members on Capitol Hill saw the flag instead as a fitting symbol for a world turned upside down. "I was in San Francisco during the earthquake and I see the same look on the faces of Democratic staffers today that I saw on people walking around San Francisco back then," said Republican aide Tom Hoope.

About every week, 10 or so Democratic strategists planning President Clinton's role in the 1994 election campaign gather in the White House basement under the leadership of Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes. Trouble-shooter Ickes' new job as campaign overseer, which drains time away from his efforts as political point man for the Administration's health care reform proposal--the White House's No.

Many of the 71 Senate and governorship seats on the line in November elections are shaping up as high drama, but others appear to be snoozers. Here, according to the American Political Hotline, is the likelihood that the person/party in control will be ousted, on a scale from 1-5, 1 being the greatest chance for turnover. (Open seats are in caps) Senate Ratings The Democrats currently control the Senate, 56-44. In the November elections, 35 of those seats are up for grabs.

As the 1994 midterm election heads into its final hours, Republicans are poised to score gains sweeping enough to undermine--and perhaps overturn--Democratic command of Capitol Hill and give the GOP a strong hand in charting the nation's political future. This is a campaign Democrats have always known they would lose. And despite apparent last-minute recoveries by some of their candidates, the only question that remains before Tuesday's balloting begins is how large the loss will be.

Candidates across the country prepared Monday to put their fates in the hands of the voters as campaign '94 snarled to a frenetic, hotly competitive, close. With the arrival of Election Day closing one of the most dramatic and bitter midterm elections in many years, several crucial races remained too close to call, including those on which control of the Senate and the House will hinge.

The hallways of the Cannon House Office Building resembled a vast junk yard. Piles of assorted institutional furniture lined the corridors, a banged-up desk here, a worn file cabinet there. A green St. Patrick's Day hat formed a still life with a half-full plastic highball glass, amber with cigarettes. A gooseneck lamp lay stricken in an apparent lethal back flip. Down the way, the friendly face of Rep.

No matter which party controls Congress after today's elections, Washington appears poised for an expensive bidding war over middle-class and business tax cuts. And Clinton Administration officials and outside analysts are warning that if the bidding gets out of control, the nation could lose control of the federal deficit.