The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 1998, with the 34 seats of Class 3 contested in regular elections. This was seen as an even contest between the Republican Party and Democratic Party. While the Democrats had to defend more seats up for election, the Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton failed to connect with voters and the anticipated Republican gains did not materialize. The Republicans picked open seats up 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 Faircloth (North Carolina). The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans, thereby tying these election results with those of 1996 and 2004 as the highest number of Senate seats that the Republicans have held since 1920.

This is the last election cycle that resulted in no net change in the balance of power and the last time Democrats won a U.S. Senate race in South Carolina. As of 2026, this is the most recent time in which the Democratic Party won a majority of Class 3 Senate seats in a regularly scheduled election.

Results summary

+ ↓ 45 55 Democratic Republican

Parties Total Democratic Republican Libertarian Other Last elections (1996)Before the elections 45 55 0 0 100 Not up 27 39 — — 66 Up 18 16 — — 34 Incumbent retired 3 2 — — 5 1 1 — — 2 1 Republican replaced by 1 Democrat2 Democrats replaced by 2 Republicans — — 3 Result 2 3 — — 5 Incumbent ran 15 14 — — 29 14 12 — — 26 2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — — 3 0 0 — — 0 Result 16 13 — — 29 Total elected 18 16 0 0 34 Net gain/loss 0 Nationwide vote 26,768,699 25,346,613 419,452 1,580,287 54,115,051 Share 49.47% 46.84% 0.78% 2.92% 100% Result 45 55 — — 100

Source: Office of the Clerk

Gains, losses, and holds Retirements Two Republicans and three Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election.

StateSenator Age at end of term AssumedofficeReplaced by Arkansas 73 1975 Idaho 47 1993 Indiana 55 1989 Kentucky 74 1974 Ohio 77 1974

Defeats One Democrat and two Republicans sought re-election but lost in the general election.

StateSenatorAssumedofficeReplaced by Illinois 1993 New York 1981 North Carolina 1993

Post-election changes Two Republicans died during the 106th Congress, and initially were all replaced by appointees.

StateSenatorReplaced by Georgia(Class 3) Rhode Island(Class 1)

Change in composition

Before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R Majority → R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

After the elections

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R Majority → R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R Key D Democratic R Republican

Race summary

Special elections during the 105th Congress There were no special elections in 1998.

Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1999; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alabama 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Alaska 198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Arizona 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Arkansas 1974198019861992 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. California 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Colorado 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Connecticut 198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Florida 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Georgia 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Hawaii 196219681974198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho 1992 Incumbent retired to run for Governor of Idaho.Republican hold. Illinois 1992 Incumbent lost re-election.Republican gain. Indiana 1989 1990 1992 Incumbent retired.Democratic gain. Iowa 198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Kansas 1996 Incumbent re-elected. Kentucky 19741974 198019861992 Incumbent retired.Republican gain. Louisiana 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Maryland 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Missouri 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Nevada 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. New Hampshire 1992 Incumbent re-elected. New York 198019861992 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. North Carolina 1992 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. North Dakota Democratic-NPL 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Ohio 19741974 198019861992 Incumbent retired.Republican gain. Oklahoma 198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Oregon 1996 Incumbent re-elected. Pennsylvania 198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. South Carolina 1966 (special)19681974198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. South Dakota 19861992 Incumbent re-elected. Utah 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Vermont 1974198019861992 Incumbent re-elected. Washington 1992 Incumbent re-elected. Wisconsin 1992 Incumbent re-elected.

Closest races Eight races had a margin of less than 10%: State Party of winner Margin Nevada Democratic 0.09% Kentucky Republican (flip) 0.59% Wisconsin Democratic 2.1% Illinois Republican (flip) 2.9% North Carolina Democratic (flip)4.1% South Carolina Democratic 7.0% Georgia Republican 7.2% Missouri Republican 8.9%

Ohio was the tipping point state with a margin of 13%.

Alabama

Incumbent Republican Richard Shelby won re-election to a third term. Shelby had been elected in 1986 and 1992 as a Democrat, but switched to the Republican party in 1994, making this the first election he competed in as a Republican. He beat Democrat Clayton Suddith, an army veteran and former Franklin County Commissioner.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski easily won re-election to a fourth term against Democratic nominee Joseph Sonneman, a perennial candidate, earning nearly 75% of the vote.

Arizona

Incumbent Republican John McCain won re-election to a third term over Democratic attorney Ed Ranger.

Arkansas

Incumbent Dale Bumpers retired. U.S. Representative Blanche Lincoln won the open seat.

California

Incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer won re-election to a second term.

Although the race was predicted to be fairly close, Boxer still defeated Fong by a ten-point margin. Boxer as expected did very well in Los Angeles County, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Colorado

Incumbent Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell won re-election to a second term.

Campbell, who was elected in 1992 as a Democrat, switched parties after the 1994 Republican Revolution. He faced a primary challenger, but won with over 70% of the vote. In the general election, Democratic nominee Dottie Lamm criticized Campbell of flip flopping from being a moderate liberal to moderate conservative. In fact, throughout the entire campaign, Lamm mostly sent out negative attack advertisements about Campbell.

Connecticut

Incumbent Democrat Chris Dodd won re-election for a fourth term against former Republican U.S. Congressman Gary A. Franks.

Florida

Incumbent Democrat Bob Graham won re-election to a third term.

Graham defeated Crist in a landslide, as Crist won just four counties in the state. There were no third party or independent candidates.

Georgia

Incumbent Republican Paul Coverdell won re-election to a second term.

Hawaii

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Inouye won re-election to a seventh term over Republican legislative aide Crystal Young.

Idaho

Incumbent Republican Dirk Kempthorne decided to retire after one term to run for governor. Republican nominee Mike Crapo won the open seat.

Illinois

Incumbent Democrat Carol Moseley Braun decided to run for re-election, despite the number of controversies that she had in her first term. Republican State Senator Peter Fitzgerald won his party's primary with a slim margin of victory.

He ended up defeating the incumbent, with a margin of victory of approximately 3%. Peter Fitzgerald won all but five counties.

During Moseley Braun's term as U.S. Senator, she was plagued by several major controversies. Moseley Braun was the subject of a 1993 Federal Election Commission investigation over $249,000 in unaccounted-for campaign funds. The agency found some small violations, but took no action against Moseley Braun, citing a lack of resources. Moseley Braun only admitted to bookkeeping errors. The Justice Department turned down two requests for investigations from the IRS.Slate, Is Carol Moseley-Braun a Crook?", February 19, 2003

In 1996, Moseley Braun made a private trip to Nigeria, where she met with dictator Sani Abacha. Despite U.S. sanctions against that country, due to Abacha's actions, the Senator did not notify, nor register her trip with, the State Department. She subsequently defended Abacha's human rights records in Congress.NPR, "2004 Democratic Presidential Candidates: Carol Moseley Braun", Npr.org, May 6, 2003

Peter Fitzgerald, a State Senator, won the Republican primary, defeating Illinois Comptroller Loleta Didrickson with 51.8% of the vote, to Didrickson's 48.2%.Election Results: General Primary - 3/17/1998 , Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved October 30, 2016. Fitzgerald spent nearly $7 million in the Republican primary. He had a major financial advantage, as he was a multimillionaire. He ended up spending $12 million in his election victory.

In September, Moseley Braun created controversy again by using the word "nigger" to describe how she claims to be a victim of racism.

Most polls over the first few months showed Moseley Braun trailing badly. However, after she was helped in the final month by notable Democrats such as First Lady Hillary Clinton and U.S. Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, three polls published in the last week showed her within the margin of error, and, in one poll, running even with Fitzgerald.

Moseley Braun was narrowly defeated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. Moseley Braun only won five of Illinois's 102 counties. Despite this, the race was kept close by Moseley running up massive margins in Cook County, home of Chicago. However, it was not quite enough to win.

Indiana

Incumbent Republican Dan Coats decided to retire instead of seeking a second full term. Democratic nominee, former Governor Evan Bayh won the open seat his father once held.

Iowa

Incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley sought re-election to a fourth term in the United States Senate, facing off against former State Representative David Osterberg, who won the Democratic nomination unopposed. Grassley had not faced a competitive election since 1980; this year proved no different, and Grassley crushed Osterberg to win a fourth term.

Kansas

Incumbent Republican Sam Brownback won re-election to his first full term. Brownback was first elected in a special election held in 1996, when then-Senator Bob Dole resigned to campaign for U.S. President, after 27 years in the Senate. This would've been Dole's seventh term in office had he remained in his seat.

Kentucky

Incumbent Democratic U.S Senator Wendell Ford decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Representative Jim Bunning won the open seat.

Louisiana

Incumbent Democrat John Breaux won re-election to a third term. As of 2022, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from Louisiana.

Maryland

Incumbent Democrat Barbara Mikulski won re-election to a third term.

Missouri

Incumbent Republican Kit Bond won re-election to a third term.

Nevada

Incumbent Democrat Harry Reid won re-election to a third term.

Reid won in a close election by 401 votes—even closer than Tim Johnson's Senate run in South Dakota in 2002, when he narrowly defeated Congressman John Thune by 524 votes. Ensign did not contest the results, and Reid won the race.

New Hampshire

Incumbent Republican Judd Gregg won re-election to his second term.

New York