1894 United States elections

1894 United States elections
1892          1893          1894          1895          1896
Midterm elections
Election dayNovember 6
Incumbent presidentGrover Cleveland (Democratic)
Next Congress54th
Senate elections
Overall controlRepublican gain
Seats contested30 of 88 seats
Net seat changeRepublican +4
Results of the elections:
     Democratic hold
     Republican gain      Republican hold
     Populist gain      Legislature failed to elect
House elections
Overall controlRepublican gain
Seats contestedAll 356 voting seats
Net seat changeRepublican +110
Map of 1894 house races
     Democratic gain      Republican gain
     Democratic hold      Republican hold
     Populist gain      Populist hold
     Silver hold
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested28
Net seat changeRepublican +7
1894 gubernatorial election results

     Democratic gain      Democratic hold
     Republican gain      Republican hold

     Populist gain      Silver gain

Elections were held on November 6, 1894, and elected the members of the 54th United States Congress. These were mid-term elections during Democratic President Grover Cleveland's second non-consecutive term. The Republican landslide of 1894 marked a realigning election In American politics as the nation moved from the Third Party System that had focused on issues of civil war and reconstruction, and entered the Fourth Party System, known as the Progressive Era, which focused on middle class reforms.

The Democrats suffered a landslide defeat in the House losing over 100 seats to the Republicans in the single largest swing in the history of the House. The Democrats also lost four seats in the Senate, thus resulting in the President's party completely losing control of both houses of Congress, the first time this ever happened in a midterm election.

The Democratic Party losses can be traced largely to the Panic of 1893 and the ineffective party leadership of Cleveland. Republicans effectively used the issues of the tariff, bimetallism, and the Cuban War of Independence against Cleveland. The Democrats suffered huge defeats outside the South (almost ninety percent of Northeastern and Midwestern House Democrats lost re-election), and the Democratic Party underwent a major turnover in party leadership. With the defeat of many Bourbon Democrats, William Jennings Bryan took the party in a more populist direction starting with the 1896 elections.