The election precipitated a change in Republican leadership, with Newt Gingrich resigning as Speaker of the House. The House of Representatives elections saw a significant disruption of the historic six-year itch trend, where the president's party loses seats in the second-term midterm elections. The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans.
Though Republicans won the national popular vote for the House by a margin of 1.1 percentage points and retained control of the chamber, Democrats picked up a net of five seats. With the Republicans having lost 4 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. Texas Governor George W. Bush's landslide re-election solidified his status as a front-runner for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.
President-elect Bartlet succeeded a Republican President. The Republicans, however, picked up seats in Kentucky's 6th district, Wisconsin's 8th district, California's 3rd district, California's 36th district, Pennsylvania's 15th district, and North Carolina's 8th district. The election precipitated a change in Republican leadership, with Newt Gingrich resigning as Speaker of the House. Faircloth (North Carolina). 1998 Gubernatorial Election 1998 Gubernatorial Primary Election Results. [2] A 2001 study by Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz attributes the Republican Party's poor performance in the 1998 elections to a public backlash against Republicans' handling of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. They were a major disappointment to the Republicans, who were 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. Incumbent resigned November 11, 1997, to become, Timothy A. Knibbs (Concerned Citizens) 1.8%, Wattenberg; Martin P. "The Democrats' Decline in the House during the Clinton Presidency: An Analysis of Partisan Swings", This page was last edited on 18 September 2020, at 16:42. The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans.
Seats picked up by the Democrats included Kansas's 3rd district, Nevada's 1st district, Pennsylvania's 13th district, New Mexico's 3rd district, New Jersey's 12th district, Kentucky's 4th district, Mississippi's 4th district, California's 1st district, Wisconsin's 2nd district, Washington's 1st district, and Washington's 3rd district. Though Republicans retained control of both chambers of Congress, the elections were unusual in that the president's party gained seats in the House of Representatives. In the Senate elections, Republicans picked up open seats in Ohio and Kentucky and narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois), but these were cancelled out by the Democrats' gain of an open seat in Indiana and defeats of Republican Senators Al D'Amato (New York) and Lauch