United States House of Representatives elections, 1998

United States House of Representatives elections, 1998

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All 435 seats to the United States House of Representatives 218 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Newt Gingrich Dick Gephardt Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Georgia-6th Missouri-3rd Last election 227 seats 206 seats Seats won 223 211 Seat change 4 5 Popular vote 32,237,964 31,490,298 Percentage 48.4% 47.3% Swing 0.2% 0.9%
Results:   Democratic hold   Democratic pickup   Republican hold   Republican pickup   Independent hold
Speaker before election Newt Gingrich Republican Elected Speaker Dennis Hastert Republican

Newt Gingrich
Republican

Dennis Hastert
Republican

The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections were part of the midterm elections held during President Bill Clinton's second term. They were a major disappointment to the Republican Party, which was expecting to gain seats due to the embarrassment Clinton suffered during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the "six-year itch" effect observed in most second-term midterm elections. However, the Republican lost five seats to the Democratic Party, but retained a narrow majority in the House. A wave of Republican discontent with Speaker Newt Gingrich prompted him to resign shortly after the election; he was replaced by Congressman Dennis Hastert of Illinois.

The campaign was marked by Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton, with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr having released his report on the 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. Some speculate that the losses reflected a backlash against the Republicans for attacking the popular President 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.