United States House of Representatives elections, 1898

United States House of Representatives elections, 1898

1896 ← November 8, 1898 → 1900

All 357 seats to the U.S. House of Representatives 179 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader David Henderson James Richardson Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Iowa-3rd Tennessee-5th Last election 210 seats 124 seats Seats won 189 161 Seat change 21 37   Third party Fourth party   Leader John Calhoun Bell Francis G. Newlands Party Populist Silver Leader's seat Colorado-2nd Nevada-AL Last election 22 seats 1 seat Seats won 6 1 Seat change 16

Speaker before election Thomas Reed Republican Elected Speaker David Henderson Republican

Thomas Reed
Republican

David Henderson
Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1898 for members of the 56th Congress, and took place in the middle of President William McKinley's first term.

As in many midterm elections, the President's Republican Party lost seats, but was able to hold a majority over the Democratic Party. The Populist Party also lost many seats, as their movement began to decline. This was likely because many Populists rallied behind William Jennings Bryan's increasingly powerful branch of the Democratic Party, which built the rural economic issues advocated by Populists into their platform. As a result, the Democrats won a number of Western seats as well many in the Mid-Atlantic.

The previous election of 1896 saw the election of 24 Populists, 2 Silver Republicans, and a Silver Party member.

In 1898, three states, with 8 seats among them, held elections early:

Party abbreviations

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