 The Democrats, under the leadership of Al Smith and Robert F. Wagner embraced reform in the 1910s and 1920s, especially to the benefit of their core constituency, the working class.Smith became governor in the 1920s but lost the presidential election in 1928, even though he did very well in Catholic strongholds.Wagner served in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1949, where he was a leader of the New Deal Coalition, paying special emphasis to supporting the labor movement.