United States elections, 1974

Partisan control of Congress and the presidency

	Previous party	Incoming party
President	Republican	Republican
House	Democratic	Democratic
Senate	Democratic	Democratic

The 1974 United States midterm elections were held on November 5, and elected the members of the 94th United States Congress. The elections occurred during the middle of Gerald Ford's term in office. The elections were held in the wake of the Watergate scandal which led to Richard M. Nixon's resignation from the presidency, and Ford's subsequent pardon of Nixon. In addition, an energy crisis hit the country at this time, resulting in soaring inflation. These circumstances, along with the six-year itch phenomenon, hurt the Republicans, and they lost seats in both houses of Congress. Many of the newly elected Democrats 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.

United States House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 1974

The Democrats made large gains in the House, taking 49 seats from the Republicans and increasing their majority above the two-thirds mark.

United States Senate

Main article: United States Senate election, 1974

The Democrats made a net gain of four Senate seats from the Republicans. Democrat John A. Durkin won a special election in New Hampshire after the Senate voided the original contested election. After the special election, Democrats possessed 61 seats to 38 for the Republicans, with one independent who caucused with the Democrats and one Conservative who caucused with the Republicans.

Gubernatorial elections

Main article: United States gubernatorial elections, 1974

The Democratic Party picked up a net of four seats in the gubernatorial elections.