Reagan's coattails

Reagan’s coattails refers to the influence of Ronald Reagan’s popularity in elections other than his own, after the American political expression to “ride in on another’s coattails.” Chiefly, it refers to the “Reagan Revolution” accompanying his 1980 election to the U.S. Presidency. This victory was accompanied by the change of twelve seats in the U.S. Senate from Democratic to Republican hands, producing a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1954.

The most stunning defeat was that of U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern (D-S.D.), a prominent Progressive Democrat who had been the party’s nominee for president in 1972. McGovern lost his bid for a fourth term in the Senate by a resounding 58% to 39% margin to U.S. Rep. James Abdnor (R-S.D.).

1980 Senate Democratic losses

The Democratic losses in the Senate in 1980 were:

  1. U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern (D-S.D.) (3 terms) lost to U.S. Rep. James Abdnor (R-S.D.)
  2. U.S. Sen. Warren G. Magnuson (D-Wash.) (6 terms) lost to Republican T. Slade Gorton III.
  3. U.S. Sen. Gaylord A. Nelson (D-Wis.) (3 terms) lost to Republican Robert W. Kasten Jr..
  4. U.S. Sen. John A. Durkin (D-N.H.) (1 term) lost to Republican Warren B. Rudman. Durkin resigned his seat in December and Rudman was appointed to fill out the remaining few days of Durkin's term.
  5. U.S. Sen. John C. Culver (D-Iowa) (1 term) lost to Republican Charles E. Grassley.
  6. U.S. Sen. Birch E. Bayh II (D-Ind.) (3 terms) lost to J. Danforth Quayle.
  7. U.S. Sen. Frank F. Church (D-Idaho) (4 terms) lost to Republican Steven D. Symms.
  8. U.S. Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.) (4 terms) lost to Republican Mack F. Mattingly.
  9. U.S. Sen. Richard B. Stone (D-Fla.) (1 term) lost in the Democratic primary to William D. Gunter Jr.. Gunter lost the general election to Republican Paula Hawkins.
  10. U.S. Sen. Maurice R. "Mike" Gravel (D-Alaska) (2 terms), the senator who in 1971 had entered the full text of the Pentagon Papers into the official record of the Senate Subcommittee of Public Buildings and Grounds, was unexpectedly defeated in the Democratic primary by Clark Gruening. Gruening was the grandson of Ernest Gruening, the incumbent Democrat whom Gravel had unseated in the 1968 Democratic primary. The younger Gruening lost the general election to Republican Frank H. Murkowski.
  11. U.S. Sen. Donald W. Stewart (D-Ala.) (1 term) lost in the Democratic primary to James E. Folsom Jr.. Folsom lost the general election to Republican Jeremiah A. Denton Jr..
  12. U.S. Sen. Robert B. Morgan (D-N.C.) (1 term) lost to Republican John P. East.

1986 and beyond

Notably, the bulk of the 1980 class of Senate Republicans failed to hold their seats for the Republican party beyond one term. In the 1986 election, the Democrats managed to recapture the majority in the Senate, partly thanks to the defeat of several members of the Reagan class of 1980:

They won three more seats in 1986, but these have since shown instability, alternating between the parties (and in one case between senators):

Other races

This not only affected Senate races in 1980, which resulted in many Republicans replacing incumbent Democrats, were considered as a part of Reagan's coattails. Most prominently defeat of first term Governor of Arkansas and future President of the United States Bill Clinton by Frank D. White.[1] Nevertheless Clinton regained Governorship in a 1982 rematch and held until his election to the Presidency.

References