Выборы в Сенат США 1998 года: Сохранение статус-кво

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The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 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, Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton failed to connect with voters and anticipated Republican gains did not materialize. The 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 Faircloth (North Carolina). The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans. With Democrats gaining five seats in the House of Representatives, this marked the first time since 1934 that the party not in control of the White House failed to gain congressional seats in mid term election cycles, which would also happen in 2002. These are the last Senate elections that resulted in no net change in the balance of power. This is the last time Democrats won a U. S. Senate race in South Carolina.

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.

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

Incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth decided to seek re election to a second term, but was unseated by Democrat John Edwards.

Incumbent NPL–Democrat Byron Dorgan won re election to a second term. Republican Donna Nalewaja, State Senator's campaign focused on the suggestion that Dorgan had served in the United States Congress for nearly 20 years, and had accomplished relatively little. Dorgan and Nalewaja won the primary elections for their respective parties. McLain had previously run for North Dakota's other Senate seat in 1980 against Mark Andrews.

Incumbent Democratic U. S Senator John Glenn decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Governor George Voinovich won the open seat.

Incumbent Republican Don Nickles won re election to his fourth term.

Incumbent Democratic Ron Wyden won re election to his first full term, defeating Republican nominee John Lim, a state senator.

Incumbent Republican Arlen Specter won re election to a fourth term. Leading up to this campaign, the state Democratic Party was in dire straits, as it was plagued by prior corruption allegations of several key legislators and by a lack of fund raising. Just as in the accompanying gubernatorial race, the party had difficulty in finding a credible candidate. State Representative Bill Lloyd, State Representative, who was a well respected party leader but who had almost zero statewide name recognition, was considered to be a sacrificial lamb candidate. Specter ran a straightforward campaign and attempted to avoid mistakes, while Lloyd's bid was so underfunded that he was unable to air a single commercial until two weeks before the election. Lloyd's strategy was to portray Republicans as hyper partisan in wake of their attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton, but he was unable to gain any traction with his message. On Election Day, Specter's win was by the second largest margin in the history of Senate elections in Pennsylvania. Lloyd won in two counties: almost uniformly Democratic Philadelphia and his home county, rural and typically Republican Somerset County.

Incumbent Republican Bob Bennett won re election to a second term.

Incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy won re election to a fifth term. Notably, the Republican nominee, dairy farmer and actor Fred Tuttle, withdrew from the race and endorsed Leahy, asking Vermonters to vote for his Democratic opponent because he hated Washington DC and he was, as his wife had previously said publicly, unqualified to serve as a United States Senator. His campaign, which had been conducted primarily from his front porch in Tunbridge, VT, spent only $251 during the election season and featured the slogans "Spread Fred!" and "Why Not?" In spite of this, Tuttle still received 48,051 votes, or 22% of the total.

Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray won re election to a second term.

Incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold won re election to a second term. In September 1997, Mark Neumann, a Republican U. S. Representative, announced his candidacy for the United States Senate against Russell Feingold. Both candidates had similar views on the budget surplus, although Neumann was for banning partial birth abortion while Feingold was against a ban. Both candidates limited themselves to $3.8 million in campaign spending ($1 for every citizen of Wisconsin), although outside groups spent more than $2 million on Neumann; Feingold refused to have outside groups spend their own 'soft money' on his behalf. Feingold defeated Neumann by a slim 2% margin in the election. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Neumann had a 30,000 vote margin outside Milwaukee County, but was overwhelmed by a 68,000 vote margin in Milwaukee County.