Presidents Who Lost the Most Seats in Congress in a Midterm Election


This a list of the presidents whose party lost the most seats in the US House of Representatives in a mid-term election (where the president was not on the ballot).

Rank President Party Mid-Term Election Year House Seats Lost by President's Party
1. Grover Cleveland Democratic 1894 125
2. Ulysses S. Grant Republican 1874 96
3. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1890 93
4. Warren Harding Republican 1922 77
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic 1938 72
6. Barack Obama Democratic 2010 64
7. Woodrow Wilson Democratic 1914 61
8. William Howard Taft Republican 1910 57
9. Harry Truman Democratic 1946 56
10. Bill Clinton Democratic 1994 54
11. Herbert Hoover Republican 1930 52
12. Dwight Eisenhower Republican 1958 50
13. James Buchanan Democratic 1858 49
14. Gerald Ford Republican 1974 48
15. Lyndon Johnson Democratic 1966 47
16. Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic 1942 45
17. Donald Trump Republican 2018 42
18. Ulysses S. Grant Republican 1870 35
19. Chester Arthur Republican 1882 34
20. George W. Bush Republican 2006 30

This is a list of the presidents whose party lost the most seats in the US Senate in a mid-term election (where the president was not on the ballot).

Rank President Party Mid-Term Election Year Senate Seats Lost by President's Party
1. Harry Truman Democratic 1946 12
1. Dwight Eisenhower Republican 1958 12
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic 1942 9
3. Bill Clinton Democratic 1994 9
3. Barack Obama Democratic 2014 9
6. Herbert Hoover Republican 1930 8
6. Ronald Reagan Republican 1986 8
6. William Howard Taft Republican 1910 8
9. Woodrow Wilson Democratic 1918 7
9. Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic 1938 7
9. Rutherford B. Hayes Republican 1878 7
12. Barack Obama Democratic 2010 6
12. Ulysses S. Grant Republican 1870 6
12. Warren Harding Republican 1922 6
12. Calvin Coolidge Republican 1926 6
12. George W. Bush Republican 2006 6
17. Harry Truman Democratic 1950 5
17. Gerald Ford Republican 1974 5
19. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1890 4
19. Lyndon Johnson Democratic 1966 4
19. Grover Cleveland Democratic 1894 4

These lists are based on all mid-term elections since 1858 when the current party structure that predominantly consists of Democrats and Republicans began. The loss of seats is calculated from the beginning of one Congress to the beginning of the next. As a result, in some cases the number of Congressional seats that were lost includes the net effect of any special elections, interim appointments, resignations, deaths, etc. that were not directly the result of a mid-term election.

References:

"Party Divisions of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present" US House of Representatives, US House website: History.House.gov. Retrieved August 5, 2026.

"U.S. Senate: Party Division" US Senate website: Senate.gov. Retrieved August 5, 2026.