Minimal House Losses for the Republicans.

Even though Republicans emerged from the midterm elections with a smaller majority in the House of Representatives, President Calvin Coolidge insisted that he and his administration had not experienced a political setback. After all, midterm reverses for the party in power were common and expected, and the probusiness Republicans had suffered their fewest losses of the decade.

Significant Senate Losses.

The most significant change resulting from the midterm elections came in the Senate, where Democrats gained seven seats. The most embarrassing for Coolidge was the defeat in Massachusetts of Sen. William Butler by Democrat David Walsh. Butler, from Coolidge's home state, was the only candidate for whom the president campaigned personally. Yet Coolidge argued that personal and local concerns, rather than national issues, determined the outcome of this and the other Senate races in which Republicans...