u.s. senate election, 1998

The U.S. Senate election, 1998 was a roughly even contest between the Republican and Democratic parties. On the one hand, the Republican party slightly lost popularity after the impeachment of President Clinton; on the other, the Democrats had more seats to defend since this was six years after a Democratic wave in the 1992 election. In the end the balance of the Senate was unchanged. The Republicans took open seats in Kentucky and Ohio from the Democrats as well as unseating Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL). Democrat Evan Bayh took the open seat in Indiana, and incumbent Senators Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) and Al D'Amato (R-NY) lost their seats to John Edwards and Chuck Schumer.

Senate contests in 1998

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Richard C. Shelby	Republican	Re-elected, 63 - 37	Clayton Suddith (Democrat)
Alaska	Frank H. Murkowski	Republican	Re-elected, 75 - 20	Joe Sonneman (Democrat)
Arizona	John S. McCain III	Republican	Re-elected, 68 - 28	Ed Ranger (Democrat)
Arkansas	Dale L. Bumpers	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 55 - 42	Blanche L. Lincoln (Democrat) Fay Boozman (Republican)
California	Barbara L. Boxer	Democrat	Re-elected, 53 - 43	Matt Fong (Republican)
Colorado	Ben Nighthorse Campbell	Republican	Re-elected, 63 - 35	Dottie Lamm (Democrat)
Connecticut	Christopher J. Dodd	Democrat	Re-elected, 65 - 32	Gary Franks (Republican)
Florida	D. Robert Graham	Democrat	Re-elected, 63 - 37	Charlie Crist (Republican)
Georgia	Paul D. Coverdell	Republican	Re-elected, 52 - 45	Michael Coles (Democrat)
Hawaii	Daniel K. Inouye	Democrat	Re-elected, 79 - 18	Crystal Young (Republican)
Idaho	Dirk A. Kempthorne	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 70 - 28	Michael D. Crapo (Republican) Bill Mauk (Democrat)
Illinois	Carol Moseley-Braun	Democrat	Defeated, 51 - 47	Peter G. Fitzgerald (Republican)
Indiana	Daniel R. Coats	Republican	Retired: Democratic victory, 64 - 35	B. Evans "Evan" Bayh III (Democrat) Paul Helmke (Republican)
Iowa	Charles E. Grassley	Republican	Re-elected, 68 - 31	David Osterberg (Democrat)
Kansas	Samuel D. Brownback	Republican	Re-elected, 65 - 32	Paul Feleciano Jr. (Democrat)
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 50 - 49	James P. Bunning (Republican) Scotty Baesler (Democrat)
Louisiana	John B. Breaux	Democrat	Re-elected, 64 - 32	Jim Donelon (Republican)
Maryland	Barbara A. Mikulski	Democrat	Re-elected, 71 - 29	Ross Pierpont (Republican)
Missouri	Christopher S. "Kit" Bond	Republican	Re-elected, 53 - 44	Jay Nixon (Democrat)
Nevada	Harry M. Reid	Democrat	Re-elected, 48 - 48	John E. Ensign (Republican)
New Hampshire	Judd A. Gregg	Republican	Re-elected, 68 - 28	George Condodemetraky (Democrat)
New York	Alfonse M. D'Amato	Republican	Defeated, 54 - 45	Charles E. Schumer (Democrat)
North Carolina	D. McLaughlin "Lauch" Faircloth	Republican	Defeated, 51 - 47	John Edwards (Democrat)
North Dakota	Byron L. Dorgan	Democrat	Re-elected, 63 - 35	Donna Nalewaja (Republican)
Ohio	John H. Glenn Jr.	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 56 - 44	George V. Voinovich (Republican) Mary O. Boyle (Democrat)
Oklahoma	Donald L. Nickles	Republican	Re-elected, 66 - 31	Don Carroll (Democrat)
Oregon	Ronald L. Wyden	Democrat	Re-elected, 59 - 36	John Lim (Republican)
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Re-elected, 61 - 35	Bill Lloyd (Democrat)
South Carolina	Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings	Democrat	Re-elected, 53 - 46	Bob Inglis (Republican)
South Dakota	Thomas A. Daschle	Democrat	Re-elected, 62 - 36	Ron Schmidt (Republican)
Utah	Robert F. Bennett	Republican	Re-elected, 64 - 33	Scott Leckman (Democrat)
Vermont	Patrick J. Leahy	Democrat	Re-elected, 72 - 23	Fred Tuttle (Republican)
Washington	Patricia Murray	Democrat	Re-elected, 58 - 42	Linda Smith (Republican)
Wisconsin	Russell D. Feingold	Democrat	Re-elected, 51 - 49	Mark Neumann (Republican)