Here's part 2 of my historical hypothetical elections.
The 1996 elections were a VERY slight victory for Republicans.
In the Senate, there were only five seats which changed hands.
The Democrats picked up:
OR: In a special election to replace the perverted Bob Packwood, Rep. Ron Wyden was elected, giving Oregon its first Democratic senator in years.
SD: Incumbent Larry Pressler somehow managed to lose to Rep. Tim Johnson despite Dole winning the state and Pressler not being too right-wing for the state. Nobody is really sure what happened here, but Johnson is a strong candidate.
The Republicans picked up:
AL: Jefferson Sessions picked up Howell Heflin's old Senate seat. This is probably the last time Democrats will hold an Alabama Senate seat for a very long time.
AR: Tim Hutchinson won another open Southern seat. The Southern Democrats have been losing Senate seats all over the place: TX, GA, NC, SC, OK, 2 in TN, AL, and AR makes 9 seats in six years. This is the exact number of net seats Dems have lost in the last three Senatorial elections.
NE: Chuck Hagel won another open seat in a red state. This gives the GOP a net of +1 in the Senate for the cycle. However, no Democratic incumbents lost.
House of Representatives:
The Republicans had a net gain of 2 seats in this election.
Republican pickups:
Open Seats:
The South:
Bob Riley and Bob Aderholt in Alabama
John Cooksey in Louisiana
Wes Watkins in Oklahoma
Chip Pickering in Mississippi
Pete Sessions, Ron Paul, and Kay Granger in Texas
Non-South:
John Shimkus in Southern Illinois
Rick Hill in Montana
John Thune in South Dakota
George Nethercutt in Eastern Washington, Tom Foley's old seat
Greg Ganske in Central Iowa, after Neal Smith finally retired
Republicans beating incumbents:
Anne Northup managed to defeat Mike Ward in Louisville
Chris Cannon beat Bill Orton in Utah
Democrats won some seats as well, though.
Democrats winning open seats:
Leonard Boswell in Western Iowa
Chris John in Southern Louisiana
Ron Kind in Western Wisconsin
Jay Johnson in Northern Wisconsin
A relatively large number of Republican incumbents lost as well, helped by Bill Clinton's coattails:
Bill Baker lost to Ellen Tauscher in the Bay Area
Bob Dornan lost to Loretta Sanchez in Orange County, giving Democrats their first seat there in a very long time, if ever.
Mike Flanagan lost to Rod Blagojevich in a very blue Chicago district only help by Republicans due to scandal
Peter Blute lost to Jim McGovern in Central Mass. I don't know when the next time the GOP will hold a Bay State house seat will be.
Dick Chrysler lost to Debbie Stabenow in Central Michigan
Daniel Frisa was defeated by Carolyn McCarthy on Long Island
Dave Funderburk lost to Bob Etheridge in Eastern NC after a gaffe-filled campaign, despite the district being very red.
Martin Hoke lost to Dennis Kucinich in the Cleveland Area
Bill Green was defeated in Manhattan, four years after beating Carolyn Maloney in a close election.
And there you have it, 1996 in full.
1998:
The Senate:
Democrats had a net gain of one seat in the Senate, and seven seats in total switched hands.
Republican Gains:
Illinois: One-termer Carol Mosely Braun was defeated by little-known Peter Fitzgerald. Braun was an exceptionally weak candidate.
Kentucky: Jim Bunning won yet another open Southern seat. The number of Southern Democratic Senators will soon be approaching zero.
Ohio: Popular Mayor George Voinovich won an open seat in the Buckeye State.
Democratic Gains:
California: An anonymous Democrat defeated Bruce Herschensohn as California continued its leftward shift.
Indiana: Popular legacy candidate Evan Bayh won an open seat in red Indiana.
New York: Al D'Amato was finally defeated by Rep. Chuck Schumer, another blue-state Republican to go down.
North Carolina: Freshman Lauch Faircloth lost to slick lawyer John Edwards in the Tar Heel State.
House of Representatives:
Democrats picked up 2 seats, their first gains since 1990.
Republican gains:
Incumbents losing:
The only Dem incumbent to lose was freshman Jay Johnson, losing to Mark Green in a moderate district centered around Green Bay.
Open Democratic seats picked up:
Doug Ose won a seat in Northern California
Steven Kuykendall won one in L.A. County
Ernie Fletcher took a seat centered around Lexington, KY
Robin Hayes won in rural North Carolina
Pat Toomey won in the Lehigh Valley
Democrats defeated four incumbents:
Bob Mappert of Upstate New York finally was defeated
Vince Snowbarger lost to Dennis Moore in a Kansas City-area district
Mike Pappas lost to Rush Holt in Central Jersey
Jon Fox lost to Joe Hoeffel in the Philly Suburbs
Open Seats won:
Ken Lucas won in Northern Kentucky, a very tough to hold suburban/rural district
Ronnie Shows showed Dem strength still exists in the Deep South, picking up a Mississippi seat
Tom Udall won in New Mexico
Tammy Baldwin won in Madison, becoming the first openly lesbian congresswoman