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| | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
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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 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. 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 , , , , , , , , , , and . The Republicans, however, picked up seats in , , , , , and .
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(1996 ←) 1998 United States elections (→ 2000)
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