Reagan's coattails

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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 United States Senate from Democratic to Republican hands, producing a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1954.

Possibly best known was the defeat of Democratic South Dakota Senator George McGovern, a prominent progressive Democrat who had been the party's nominee for president in 1972. McGovern lost his bid for a fourth term by a resounding 19-point margin to Republican Representative James Abdnor.