 Barkley thought the administration was too favorable to big business interests, however, and in 1922, he proclaimed that if Harding had returned the country to normalcy, "then in God's name let us have Abnormalcy".By the time of his 1922 re-election bid, Barkley was the ranking Democrat on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee.In the election, he carried every First District county, including the Republican strongholds of Caldwell and Crittenden counties.