The 1974 United States elections were held on November 5. The elections occurred in the wake of the Watergate scandal and three months into term of Republican President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. Democrats expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress. Ford's granting of a pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon, along with soaring inflation caused by the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

, created a tough environment for the Republican Party. Democrats won net gains of four seats in the Senate, 49 seats in the House of Representatives, and four seats in the gubernatorial elections. Many of the newly elected Democrats were Northern liberals, shifting the balance of power away from conservative Southern Democrats.

Federal elections

United States Senate

The Democrats made a net gain of four Senate seats from the Republicans. Democrat

John A. Durkin John Anthony Durkin (March 29, 1936 – October 16, 2012) was an American politician who served as a Democratic U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1975 until 1980. Early life Born March 29, 1936, in Brookfield, Massachusetts, Durkin was the yo ...

won a special election in New Hampshire after the Senate voided the original contested election. After the special election, Democrats possessed 60 seats to 38 for the Republicans, with one independent who caucused with the Democrats and one Conservative who caucused with the Republicans.

United States House of Representatives

The Democrats won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 16.8 points. This translated to a net gain of 49 seats from the Republicans, increasing the party's majority above the two-thirds mark. Many of the newly elected Democrats in the House and Senate were liberal northerners (known as Watergate Babies), and the influx of liberals moved power away from the conservative southern Democrats who held most committee chairs in both houses.

State elections

The Democratic Party picked up a net of four seats in the gubernatorial elections and picked up four seats in U.S. Senate as well.

References

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

United States midterm elections November 1974 events in the United States {{US-election-stub