Coattails: Carrying more than just the Presidency

A key aspect of politics almost from the beginning was the belief in a party, meaning that whoever was running for president was in a sense running for Senate, Congress, and Governor all at the same time. Many off year elections from presidential elections are referendums on the president himself, and many midterm elections have seen the opposing party take many seats in Congress and win many state races. In presidential election years, the candidate can greatly help the party by doing campaign stops promoting a governor or Senate candidate while at the same time campaigning for the presidency. All presidents want their party to do well in the election, so showing support for fellow Democrats or Republicans is a good way to ensure support in a future presidency. For collectors, coattail items can be a favorite of collections, especially coming across items promoting a presidential candidate and a future presidential candidate. The two most highly sought after coattails in the hobby are probably a button from the Franklin Roosevelt era, showing Roosevelt and a young Lyndon Johnson who was running for Congress from Texas. The second most popular item is from 1916, showing Woodrow Wilson for president and James Cox for Governor of Ohio. Many candidates that are shown on buttons with presidents never run for the high office themselves, so the value really lies in what particular state you enjoy collecting, which will make it more valuable to you. The most recent example of a coattail that has become popular is from the 2004 election. Buttons were made showing Democratic candidate John Kerry running alongside a young Barack Obama for Senate. There are many classic examples that bring hundreds of dollars per item, such as a button from 1924, promoting John Davis for president and Al Smith for Governor of New York. There is also a Smith for President, Roosevelt for Governor pin from 1928 that is popular. Running with coattails is a very popular way of linking many candidates at once, and still continues today. For collectors, the hope is that the buttons we buy will become highly collectible one day, hoping that the governor, or senate, or Congressional candidate runs for president one day. The best example of this is the Kerry-Obama buttons from 2004, which at the time were not highly sought after, but after the 2008 election have increased in value dramatically and become more sought after. I have included some pictures of coattail items I have, mostly buttons, along with a poster from 1920.