1986 United States elections

none February 2026 January 2025 1986 Midterm elections November 4 Republican Party (US)Ronald Reagan (R) 100th 35 of 100 seats (34 Class 3 seats + 1 special election) Democratic gain Democratic +8 1986 Senate election results #0671B0 Democratic gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #CA0120 Republican gain #f48882 Republican hold All 435 voting seats Democratic hold Democratic +9.9% Democratic +5 400px 1986 House of Representatives election results #0671B0 Democratic gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #CA0120 Republican gain #f48882 Republican hold 38 (36 states, 2 territories) Republican +8 1986 gubernatorial election resultsTerritorial races not shown #F48882 Republican hold #CA0120 Republican gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #0671B0 Democratic gain Elections were held on November 4, 1986 and elected the members of the 100th United States Congress. The elections occurred in the middle of Republican President Ronald Reagan's second term. Democrats regained unified control of both chambers of Congress for the first time since the 1980 elections. In an instance of the six-year itch phenomenon, the Democrats won a net gain of eight seats to recapture control of the United States Senate, taking back the chamber for the first time since the 1980 elections. Democrats won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 7.7 percentage points, making a net gain of five seats.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1986 http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1986election.pdf U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk 10 April 2017 Despite Democratic congressional gains, in the gubernatorial elections, the Republican Party picked up a net of eight governorships, making 1986 the last midterm election until 2022 that the president's party made gubernatorial gains.Bibby John F. 1987 The 1986 Midterm Elections for Governor and State Legislatures: A Modest Departure from past Patterns https://www.jstor.org/stable/3330055 Publius 17 3 67–82 0048-5950Rae Nicol C. 1987 The US mid-term elections of 1986 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0261379487900503 Electoral Studies 6 1 41–46 10.1016/0261-3794(87)90050-3 0261-3794 subscription The national campaign centered largely around the Senate, where Republicans defended a large freshman class of Senators. Despite sweeping Democratic gains, many of the losing Republicans incumbents lost by small margins. The Republican loss of the Senate put an effective check on any further major conservative legislation during the Reagan administration. The elections also had a major impact on the Supreme Court, as Republican losses helped ensure that Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court would be defeated by the Senate. After the Senate rejected the conservative Bork, Reagan instead nominated Anthony Kennedy, who became a critical swing vote on the court.Busch Andrew Horses in Midstream 1999 University of Pittsburgh Press 126–135 Prior to the election, some commentators expected major losses for the Republican Party, as it is common for the party of the president to lose the mid-term in their second presidential term.Ware Alan 1987 THE 1986 AMERICAN MID-TERM ELECTIONS: THE REAGAN LEGACY TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY https://academic.oup.com/pa/article-abstract/40/2/172/1485555?redirectedFrom=PDF Parliamentary Affairs 40 2 172–187 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052090 0031-2290 subscription Other commentators expected the Republican Party to perform well, as Reagan had won in a landslide in his 1984 re-election and entered 1986 with historically high levels of support, as well as benefitted from a growing economy.Ryan-Hume Joe The 1986 Midterms: The End of the Reagan Revolution? 2022 Midterms and Mandates: Electoral Reassessment of Presidents and Parties 284–307 McLay Mark https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/midterms-and-mandates/1986-midterms-the-end-of-the-reagan-revolution/FB50BCD2ABCE2842C02192D96BE6626F Edinburgh University Press 978-1-4744-7820-5 Andelic Patrick Mason RobertJacobson Gary C. Kernell Samuel 1990 National Forces in the 1986 U. S. House Elections https://www.jstor.org/stable/440002 Legislative Studies Quarterly 15 1 65–87 10.2307/440002 0362-9805 subscription Tip O'Neill, the retiring House Speaker, declared that the election results meant "If there was a Reagan Revolution, it's over." Political scientists who analyzed the elections found that there were considerable incumbency advantages for officeholders, and that the crop of challenger candidates was relatively weak. See also 1986 United States House of Representatives elections 1986 United States Senate election 1986 United States gubernatorial elections References 1986 Category:United States midterm elections Category:November 1986 in the United States