Democrats Regain the Senate.

Two years after handing the Democrats a stunning defeat in the 1984 presidential election, American voters on 4 November 1986 gave that party a majority in the Senate, which had been controlled by the Republicans since their sweep of the senatorial elections in 1980. In fact six of the Senate newcomers of 1980 were among the nine GOP senators defeated in 1986 by Democrats, who lost only one of their own incumbents, for a net gain of eight seats. Of the thirty-four seats at stake in 1986, Democrats won twenty. Eleven of the thirteen new faces in the Senate were Democrats. These results were achieved despite a Republican campaign chest eight times the size of the Democrats'.

Democratic Wins in the South.

After Reagan's 63 percent victory in the South in 1984, the region had appeared to be a Republican stronghold for the foreseeable future. But southern voters...