Few GOP ‘revolutionaries’ of 1994 remain in Congress

WASHINGTON — The last soldiers of the revolution are departing.

Thursday’s retirement announcement by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., marks not only the end of his personal legislative career but signals the waning ranks of Republicans who took over Washington in the historic 1994 wave election.

That year, Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in four decades, made Newt Gingrich a household name and changed the course of modern politics.

The mild-mannered Washington Republican was one of 73 Republicans who swept in to Washington that year. Today, only four lawmakers have served with Hastings continually from the 1994 class: Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, and Mac Thornberry of Texas.

Three more members of the class left or were defeated but returned in later elections and are serving again: Matt Salmon of Arizona, Steve Chabot of Ohio, and Steve Stockman of Texas.

Several members of the 1994 House class also went on to serve in the U.S. Senate, but only Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Roger Wicker of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina remain today. Chambliss and Coburn are also retiring this year, while Graham faces a primary challenge.

Only Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., remains of the eight Republicans elected to the Senate in 1994.

via Few GOP ‘revolutionaries’ of 1994 remain in Congress.