Editing Reagan's coattails (section)

==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 United States Senate elections|1986 elections]], the Democrats managed to recapture the majority in the Senate, largely thanks to the defeat of several members of the Reagan class of 1980:

*In South Dakota, Abdnor was challenged in the Republican primary by Governor [[Bill Janklow]]. He survived the tough primary fight, but lost in the general election to Democrat [[Tom Daschle]], who became Democratic Senate leader and held on to the seat until [[United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2004|2004]], when he was unseated by Republican [[John Thune]].
*In Washington, Gorton was unseated by Democrat [[Brock Adams]]. Gorton later won Washington's other Senate seat in [[1988 United States Senate election in Washington|1988]] and [[1994 United States Senate election in Washington|1994]] before losing re-election again in [[2000 United States Senate election in Washington|2000]].
*In Wisconsin, Kasten was reelected in 1986, but was defeated in [[United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 1992|1992]] by Democrat [[Russ Feingold]]. Feingold himself was defeated in [[2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin|2010]] by conservative businessman [[Ron Johnson]].
*In Florida, Hawkins lost her bid for reelection to Democrat [[Bob Graham]], who held the seat until his retirement in [[United States Senate election in Florida, 2004|2004]], when Republican [[Mel Martinez]] was elected to replace him.
*In Alabama, Denton lost his reelection bid to Democrat [[Richard C. Shelby]]. However, after the Republicans retook the Senate in [[1994 United States Senate elections|1994]], Shelby switched parties, returning the seat to Republican hands.

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

*In Georgia, Mattingly lost to Democrat [[Wyche Fowler]] in [[United States Senate election in Georgia, 1986|1986]]. Fowler then lost to Republican [[Paul Coverdell]] in [[United States Senate election in Georgia, 1992|1992]] and Coverdell won reelection in [[United States Senate election in Georgia, 1998|1998]]. Upon Coverdell's death in 2000, Democrat [[Zell Miller]] was appointed to the seat and won a special election that year to finish the rest of the term. Miller did not seek reelection in [[United States Senate election in Georgia, 2004|2004]], and was succeeded by Republican [[Johnny Isakson]]. Isakson resign in 2019 and was replaced by [[Kelly Loeffler]]. Loeffler lost the [[2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia|election]] to finish Isakson's term to Democrat [[Raphael Warnock]].
*In North Carolina, after East committed suicide in 1986, fellow Republican [[Jim Broyhill]] was appointed to fill out his term. This seat switched partisan hands in three consecutive elections. Broyhill was defeated by Democrat [[Terry Sanford]] in [[United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1986|1986]], Sanford was unseated by Republican [[Lauch Faircloth]] in [[United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1992|1992]], Democrat [[John Edwards]] defeated Faircloth in [[United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1998|1998]], and Republican [[Richard Burr]] won it in [[United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2004|2004]] after Edwards retired to become the Democratic nominee for Vice President.
*In Indiana, Quayle won reelection in [[1986 United States Senate election in Indiana|1986]], and after he resigned to become Vice President in 1988, fellow Republican [[Dan Coats]] was appointed to replace him. Coats won a special election in [[United States Senate special election in Indiana, 1990|1990]] to fill the rest of Quayle's term, and then won a full term in [[United States Senate election in Indiana, 1992|1992]]. In [[United States Senate election in Indiana, 1998|1998]], Coats declined to run for a second full term and Democrat [[Evan Bayh]] (the son of [[Birch Bayh]], whom Quayle had unseated in 1980) was elected to fill the seat. However, in [[United States Senate election in Indiana, 2010|2010]] Bayh also retired after two terms and was succeeded by Coats. In [[United States Senate election in Indiana, 2016|2016]], Coats did not seek reelection, and Bayh ran for his old seat, but lost the general election to Republican [[Todd Young]].

One other freshmen Republican Senator, [[Mark Andrews (politician)|Mark Andrews]] of North Dakota, lost reelection in 1986, to [[Kent Conrad]], but he had succeeded a retiring Republican, [[Milton Young]].

Speaker of the House [[Paul Ryan]] referred to the Republican majority in 2016's Senate and House elections as being "saved" by then-President-elect [[Donald Trump]]'s coattails.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/speaker-ryan-says-trump-coattails-saved-gop-majority|title=Speaker Ryan says Trump 'coattails' saved GOP majority|date=2016-11-09|work=Washington Examiner|access-date=2018-05-01|language=en}}</ref>