By my count, there were 76 Republican freshmen elected in 1994. (Thirty-four beat incumbent Dems, 24 won Dem-held open seats, and another 18 held on to GOP-held open seats.) According to the Cook Political Report, twelve of these frosh went on to lose their first re-election campaigns in 1996.
Who were these one-term wonders?
(1) Michael Flanagan from Chicago. This moron had the incredible luck of running against Dan Rostenkowski when he was under indictment. Nobody expected him to win in this overwhelmingly blue district, but well … when the incumbent is under indictment.
The irony of this race is that Democrats could’ve saved themselves a lot of grief if they hadn’t stuck to Rostenkowski. In the March 1994 primary, liberal state senator Jay Cullerton challenged Rostenkowski, but because the Clinton White House needed Rostenkowski’s help to pass the Health Care Plan, President Clinton very aggressively campaigned for Rosty.
Eight months later, the Clinton Health Care Plan was dead — and Rostenkowski was under indictment. We lost a seat that was so incredibly salvageable.
In 1996, to no one’s surprise, Democratic nominee Rod Blagoyevich beat Flanagan.
(2) Fred Heineman of North Carolina. This was the idiot who beat David Price in the Raleigh-Durham district, and then blabbered to a news reporter that in his opinion, his congressional salary of $125,000-a -year made him “lower middle class.” David Price went on to wage a comeback and win.
(3) David Funderbirk of North Carolina — a right-wing Jesse Helms protege. He lost to Bobby Etheridge in 1996.
(4) Randy Tate of Washington — Don’t remember who he lost to in ’96, but he later became Executive Director of the Christian Coalition.
IL-06(Micheal Patrick Flanagan). Was elected over scandal tarred incumbent in a 70% Democratic district and made no attempts to moderate his voting record.
ME-01(Jim Longley). Was elected in a heavily Democratic district and made no attmept to connect with his constituency.
NJ-08(Bill Martini). Was elected in a district that ended up voting for Clinton over Dole by a 64%-29% margin.
NC-02(Dave Funderburg). Didn’t take responsibility for and tried to lie about a car accident that he caused.
NC-04(Fred Heiniman). Made a horribly insulting comment when he called the voters in his district lower middle class if they didn’t make $600,000 a year.
OH-06(Frank Cremeans). Was way too conservative for this swing district and often seemed mentally unstable.
OR-05(Jim Bunn). Way too conservative for this swing district and also had an affair with an aide which led to a divorce.
TX-09(Steve Stockman). Weak candidate in a heavily Democratic district. Even Michael Dukakis won here by 10 points.
WA-09(Randy Tate). A right wing nutjob in a very Democratic district. The man was so right wing that he was Grover Norquiest’s favorite freshman.
Now I just remember a fifth “one-term” wonder:
Andrea Seastrand from Santa Barbara – San Luis Obispo. She was a typical right-wing Christian nut, who lost in 1996 in a re-match against Democrat Walter Capps.
Here’s a couple thoughts I have on this subject, one that is unique to 1996 and another that is a foreboding of 2008:
(1) 1996 was a year of wasted opportunities, to be perfectly blunt. Yes, we were able to defeat 12 members of the right-wing Freshman Class, but IMHO we could have defeated more and maybe — just maybe — had taken back Congress that year. The problem is, at the time the Democratic Party didn’t stand for anything.
Bill Clinton was running for re-election, and his campaign folks (Dick Morris, Rahm Emanuel, etc.) figured out early on that “swing” voters were willing to keep the Republican Congress, but were also willing to keep President Clinton. As a result, Clinton pursued a strategy of “triangulation” — he signed the Republican Welfare Bill, for example, for the sole purpose of denying Bob Dole a campaign issue to run on and distance himself from the liberals in his party.
Many people argue with me to this day that Clinton had to sign Welfare Repeal, or else he may have lost. That’s bullshit, because he was up by 20 points at the time — I feel he should have been willing to take the heat for vetoing what was popular legislation.
But what Clinton’s action really did was seal the defeat of many Democrats who were running for Congress against the Newt Gingrich Republicans. Republicans in Congress were in trouble at the time because they were seen as the “do-nothing” radicals who were so extreme that they were willing to shut down the federal government. By signing Welfare Repeal, Bill Clinton ended up giving these Freshmen a popular issue to run on in their re-election campaigns to prove that they had in fact not been a “do-nothing” Congress.
As a result, only the most moronic Republicans — like Fred Heineman — ended up losing that year.
(2) As for 2008 — our quesiton is which of our freshman Democrats are in danger?? Hopefully, none of them will be so stupid as Fred Heineman, but here’s my take.
We won three seats in November because of Republican Scandal — Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, and Bob Ney. Effectively, these were red districts that were essentially “gimmes” to the Democrats, kind of how the Republicans in 1994 were given Dan Rostenkowski’s seat because he was under indictment.
If there are any vulnerable freshmen next year, it will be those three seats.
CA-22(Andrea Sestrand). Right wing nutjob in a swing district that claimed that God made natural disasters because of homosexuals.
NY-04(Dan Frisa). Way too conservative and pro-gun for this heavily Democratic Long Island district.
MI-08(Dick Crysler). Weak incumbent in Dem leaning district.
Dick Chrysler (MI-Lansing): He beat Bob Carr in 1994 and lost to Debbie Stabenow in 1996.
Dan Frisa (NY-Long Island): Frisa defeated a Republican incumbent in the 1994 primary. He lost to Carolyn McCarthy in 1996 in a race dominated by the gun control issue. Until she ran against Frisa, she had been a registered Republican.
Andrea Seastrand (CA-Santa Barbara): Michael Huffington (Adriana’s ex-husband) gave up this seat to run for Senate. Seastrand, who was far more conservative that Huffington, defeated Walter Capps in a close race. Capps won a rematch two years later, but died less than a year into the term. His wife Lois replaced him.
1. Michael Flanagan (R-Illinois)
*Defeated Rostentowski in a heavily Democratic seat and lost in a landslide to current Gov. Rod Blagoevich
2. Fred Heineman (R-North Carolina)
*Defeated Dave Price, only to lose this seat back to him in 1996
3. Dave Funderburk (R-North Carolina)
*Won an open Democratic seat and then got tied into a scandal, something about getting into a car accident and forcing his wife to take the blame…defeated by Bob Etheridge in 1996
4. Dan Frisa (R-New York)
*This is my district on Long Island. A conservative, Frisa defeated longtime moderate Republican Norman Lent in the primary and lost in 1996 to Carolyn McCarthy.
5. Frank Cremeans (R-Ohio)
*Defeated freshman Representative Ted Strickland, then lost to Strickland again in 1996. Now Strickland is Governor and Cremeans, I have no idea
6. Randy Tate (R-Washington)
*Defeated a freshman in 1994 in a heavily Democratic district, supported the religious right and was defeated by Adam Smith in 1996
7. Andrea Seastrand (R-California)
*Elected in Michael Huffington’s seat, was very conservative and defeated by Walter Capps in 1996.
8. James Longley Jr. (R-Maine)
*Won a heavily Democratic open seat and was defeated by Tom Allen in 1996
9. Dick Chrysler (R-Michigan)
*Won an open seat in 1994 and was defeated by now-Senator Debbie Stabenow in 1996
10. William Martini (R-New Jersey)
*Defeated freshman Herb Klein in 1994 and defeated by Bill Pascrell in 1996
11. Jim Bunn (R-Oregon)
*Won an open seat in 1994, but a scandal where he married an aide cost him reelection to Darlene Hooley in 1996
12. Steve Stockman (R-Texas)
*defeated Judiciary Committee chairman Jack Brooks in 1994 and then lost his seat to Nick Lampson in 1996.
Interesting fact- Democrats still hold 10 of those 12, and all except Capps (who passed away and was replaced by his wife) and Stabenow (who is a Senator) are still the House.
1. Stockman
2. Heinman
3. Flanagan
4. Funderburk
5. Martini
6. Frisa
7. Tate
8. Cremeans
9. Longley
10. Bunn
11. Seastrand
12. Chrysler
Well done! I can also recall two others who weren’t defeated but did leave the House after one term: Sam Brownback (ran successfully for Senate) and Enid Waldholz (retired under an ethics cloud). Were there any others?
I read this wrong didn’t I – this post is about ’94 House winners who lost in ’96 – not freshman who lost in ’94. Sorry.
1)Matt Salmon(R-AZ)- elected to an open seat vacated by Sam Coppersmith(D-AZ) who unsuccessfully ran for the open US Senate then held by Dennis Deconcini(D-AZ). Retired in 2000 due to self imposed term limits. Unsucessfully ran for Governor in 2002. Is now chairman of the AZ GOP. Salmon’s old House seat is now held by Jeff Flake(R-AZ).
2)John Shadegg(R-AZ)- elected to an open seat vacated by now US Senator John Kyl(R-AZ). Still Serving.
3)J.D. Hayworth(R-AZ)- unseated Karan English(D-AZ)- was recently defeated by Harry Mitchell(D-AZ).
4)Frank Riggs(R-CA)- unseated Dan Hamburg(D-CA)- made an unsucessful run for the US Senate in 1998. Seat is now held by Mike Thompson(D-CA).
5)George Randonovich(R-CA)- unseated Richard Lehman(D-CA)- still serving.
6)Brian Bilbray(R-CA)- unseated Lynn Schenk(D-CA). defeated by Susan Davis in 2000. was elected to Duke Cunningman’s old House Seat during a special election.
7)Joe Scarborough(R-FL)- elected to an open seat vacated by Earl Hutto(D-FL). served until 2001- is now a cable talk show host. Seat is now held by Jeff Miller.(R-FL).
8)Dave Weldon(R-FL)- elected to an open seat vacated by Jim Bachus(D-FL). Still serving.
9)Mark Foley(R-FL)- elected to an open seat vacated by Tom Lewis(R-FL). recently resigned from Congress due to a Page-Sex scandal. Seat now held by Tim Mahoney(D-FL)
10)Bob Barr(R-GA)- unseated Buddy Darden(D-GA). lost his seat during the 2002 Redistricting. is now a member of the Libetarian Party.
11)Saxby Chambliss(R-GA)- elected to an open seat vacated by Roy Rowland(D-GA). elected to the US Senate in 2002.
12)Helen Chenowith(R-ID)- unseated Larry LoRocco(D-ID). retired in 2000 due to term limits- recently died in a car accident. Seat now held Bill Sali(R-ID).
13)Mike P Flanagan(R-IL)- unseated Dan Rostenkowski(D-IL). defeated in 1996 by now Governor Rod Blagovich.(D-IL) seat now held by Rahm Emanuel.(D-IL)
14)Jerry Weller(R-IL)- elected to an open seat vacated by George Sangmiester(D-IL)- still serving.
15)David McIntosh(R-IN)- elected to an open seat vacated by Philip Sharp(D-IN). unsucessful ran for Governor in 2000. Seat now held by Mike Pence.(R-IN)
16)Mike Souder(R-IN)- unseated Jill Thompson(D-IN). still serving.
17)John Hostettler(R-IN)- unseated Frank McCloskey(D-IN). recently defeated by Brad Ellsworth(D-IN).
18)Greg Ganske(R-IA)- unseated Neal Smith(R-IA)- unsucessful ran for the US Senate in 2002. seat now held by Steve King.
19)Tom Latham(R-IA)- elected to an open seat vacated by Gopher(Fred Grandy)-who unsucessful ran for Governor. Still Serving.