United States House of Representatives elections, 1998

Infobox Election
election_name = United States House of Representatives elections, 1998
country = United States
type = legislative
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States House of Representatives elections, 1996
previous_year = 1996
next_election = United States House of Representatives elections, 2000
next_year = 2000
seats_for_election = All 435 seats to the United States House of Representatives
election_date = November 3, 1998


leader1 = Newt Gingrich
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
leaders_seat1 = Georgia-6th
last_election1 = 228 seats
seats1 = 223
seat_change1 = -5
popular_vote1 =
percentage1 = 47.1
swing1 = +0.2%


leader2 = Dick Gephardt
party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
leaders_seat2 = Missouri-3rd
last_election2 = 206 seats
seats2 = 211
seat_change2 = +5
popular_vote2 =
percentage2 = 47.1%
swing2 = -1.0%
title = Speaker
before_election = Newt Gingrich
before_party = Republican Party (United States)
after_election = Dennis Hastert
after_party = Republican Party (United States)

The U.S. House election, 1998 was the midterm Congressional election during President Bill Clinton's second term. It was a major disappointment to the Republican Party, which was expecting to gain seats due to the "six year itch" effect observed in the midterm elections held during the second terms of most presidents. Instead, the GOP lost five seats to the Democratic Party, but retained a narrow majority in the House. After the election, Clinton painted Speaker Newt Gingrich as a right wing extremist, and a wave of discontent with him (many Republican members of the House blamed his antics and for the loss of more than a dozen seats over the past two congressional elections), prompted Gingrich to resign.

The campaign was marked by Republican attacks on the morality of President Clinton, with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr having released his report on the Monica Lewinsky scandal and House leaders having initiated an inquiry into whether impeachable offenses had occurred. However, exit polls indicated that most voters opposed impeaching Clinton, and predictions of high Republican or low Democratic turnout due to the scandal failed to materialize. [ [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/04/impeachment/index.html CNN.com] ] Some speculate that the losses reflected a backlash against the Republicans for attacking the popular Clinton. With the GOP having lost 5 House seats and failing to gain any seats in the Senate, it was the first time since 1934 that the non-presidential party failed to gain congressional seats in a mid-term election. It was also the first time since 1822 that the non-presidential party had failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President's second term.

Seats picked up by the Democrats included ushr|Kansas|3|Kansas's 3rd district, ushr|Nevada|1|Nevada's 1st district, ushr|Pennsylvania|13|Pennsylvania's 13th district, ushr|New Mexico|3|New Mexico's 3rd district, ushr|New Jersey|12|New Jersey's 12th district, ushr|Kentucky|4|Kentucky's 4th district, ushr|Mississippi|4|Mississippi's 4th district, ushr|California|1|California's 1st district, ushr|Wisconsin|2|Wisconsin's 2nd district, ushr|Washington|1|Washington's 1st district, and ushr|Washington|3|Washington's 3rd district. The Republicans, however, picked up seats in ushr|Kentucky|6|Kentucky's 6th district, ushr|Wisconsin|8|Wisconsin's 8th district, ushr|California|3|California's 3rd district, ushr|California|36|California's 36th district, ushr|Pennsylvania|15|Pennsylvania's 15th district, and ushr|North Carolina|8|North Carolina's 8th district.

Overall results

]

Voting members

Key to party abbreviations: AI=American Independent, C=Constitution, D=Democratic, G=Green, I=Independent, IP=Independence Party, L=Libertarian, R=Republican, T=U.S. Taxpayers Party, SW=Socialist Workers Party, Ref=Reform Party PF=Peace and Freedom, NL=Natural Law Party

Key to color code: Blue=Democratic pickup; Red=Republican pickup.

Alabama

Arkansas

Connecticut

Georgia

Illinois

Kansas

Maine

Michigan

Missouri

Nevada

New Mexico

North Dakota

Oregon

outh Carolina

Texas

Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

References

* Wattenberg; Martin P. "The Democrats' Decline in the House during the Clinton Presidency: An Analysis of Partisan Swings" "Presidential Studies Quarterly", Vol. 29, 1999

External links

Election Results: [http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1998/98Stat.htm Office of the Clerk U.S. House of Representatives]

ee also

*106th United States Congress
*United States Senate elections, 1998sequence
list=U.S. House elections
prev=1996
next=2000USHouseElections