# 1906 Midterm Elections Second-term [[Theodore Roosevelt]] administration midterm. Republicans lost House seats but retained substantial majority; the Progressive-Era regulatory agenda — including the **Hepburn Act** (railroad rate regulation) and the **Pure Food and Drug Act** and **Meat Inspection Act** (both passed June 1906 in response to muckraker Upton Sinclair's *The Jungle*) — defined the cycle. ## Result - **House:** Republicans lost ~28 seats but held majority (~222 of 391 Republicans vs. ~164 Democrats in the 60th Congress) - **Senate:** Republicans held substantial majority - **Chambers flipped:** None - **Net change:** Modest Republican losses ## Notable - **Pure Food and Drug Act** and **Meat Inspection Act** (both June 30, 1906) — landmark Progressive-Era consumer-protection legislation - **Hepburn Act** (June 1906) — expanded Interstate Commerce Commission authority over railroad rates - The Progressive-Republican congressional bloc (led by Senator [[Robert La Follette Sr.]]) was at its early peak - 1907 produced the **[[Panic of 1907]]** banking crisis (resolved through [[J.P. Morgan]]-led private interventions), which would lead to the 1913 [[Federal Reserve Act]] ## Connections - [[Theodore Roosevelt]] — Sitting president.