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The nationwide victories for the Democratic Party in 2006 signified the desire of the American people for a change from the old Republican order that had been in place for the past 14 years, as well as a backlash against the disastrous policies of Republican President George W. Bush. The elections went so badly for the Republican Party that for the first time in American history, they failed to win a single election for any office previously held by a Democrat at the congressional and gubernatorial levels. It represented a turning point in the general political ideology of the United States citizens. The electorate voted to reverse the massive gains they had voted the Republicans in 1994 in favor of more liberal candidates.

The victory of the Democrats in Congress can be attributed to the extremely low popularity of the previous, 109th Congress, which had been controlled by Republicans. It was often called the “Do-Nothing Congress” because it hardly got anything accomplished in the two years it had been in office. In fact, the 109th Congress met for only 101 days in session during its second session in 2006. This was the fewest days any Congress had spent in session since World War II. On Election Day 2006, only 29% of voters approved of the job Congress was doing. There were also many scandals that rocked the 109th Congress, such as its unpopular involvement with the Terry Schaivo case in 2005, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the Mark Foley scandal, and the Duke Cunningham scandal, just to name a few. The huge unpopularity of the War in Iraq, which was engineered by Republican leaders such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, also contributed to the Democratic wins.

The Democrats ushered in a new age of liberal ideas, and many milestones were reached with the election of 2006. Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. This is the highest on the line of presidential succession that a woman has ever gotten and it is historic. In addition, Harry Reid from Nevada became the first Mormon Senate Majority Leader. Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Mazie Hirono and Hank Johnson from Hawaii and Georgia, respectively, became the first Buddhists elected to Congress. This shows that the age of domination of American politics by white, Protestant men is truly over.

There are many ramifications of this Democratic Revolution. One immediate effect was the resignation of the unpopular Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. It also represented a shift in the traditional Republican Party voting base. Former Republican states such as Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, and Indiana had voted in Democrats to replace the ruling Republican officials. It had often been thought that the Midwest was a Republican stronghold, but this idea was challenged by the Democratic victory in 2006. Not only did the Democrats win new ground in the Midwest, but they solidified their own power base, especially in New England. In Connecticut, the Democrats now have a supermajority, which means that they control over two-thirds of its legislature and the Republicans cannot block any bills. Also, both of New Hampshire’s legislative houses went blue for the first time since 1874, over one hundred and thirty years ago.

In conclusion, the Democratic takeover in 2006 is extremely important in American history, although we have yet to see if it is clearly a reversal of trends or if it was just a one-time occurrence. It did, however, reverse the effects of the Republican Revolution of 1994 and shattered the Republican Party’s hopes of a permanent majority in Washington. The Republican government’s disastrous policies in the Iraq War and corruption running rampant in the Republican-controlled Congress helped to seal their fate.

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