For starters, few in Congress ever keep their self-imposed term limit pledges. It’s been said that of the 70-plus new Republicans who pledged to term limit themselves when they retook the House under the 1994 Contract with America; some 60-odd representatives never kept the pledge.
Fewer still were ever punished electorally for it. In fact, the Contract’s final plank, a constitutional amendment on term limits, failed in the House by a vote of 227 to 204 (Two-thirds of each chamber is needed to pass an amendment). Among the “No” votes, was Jim Sensenbrenner.