5 Brutal Midterm Losses for US Presidents
1874 - 104 Seats (96 House, 8 Senate)
A former Union Army General, Republican President Ulysses S. Grant oversaw an administration ripe with scandal, as well as ongoing violence in the occupied South.
For the first time since before the American Civil War, Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, winning 96 seats in the lower chamber. Democrats also gained 8 seats in the Senate.
The Democrats' midterm victory played a crucial role in ending Reconstruction, which in turn contributed to the rise of Jim Crow laws throughout the former Confederacy.