1980 United States elections
Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a landslide.Republicans picked up seats in both chambers of Congress and won control of the Senate, though Democrats retained a majority in the House of Representatives.This marks the most recent of four occasions where a newly elected president entered office with a divided legislature, which also occurred in 1860, 1876, and 1884.[3] Events such as the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan played a large role in the 1980 elections.Reagan received the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate.