1998 United Nations Security Council election, Results, Group C — Western European and Others Group (two to be elected)
With Greece losing to Canada and the Netherlands, whom both acquired the requisite 2/3 majority, the final result was as follows: Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia, and the Netherlands were elected to the Security Council for two-year terms commencing 1 January 1999.


1998 United States Capitol shooting
The 1998 United States Capitol shooting was an attack on July 24, 1998, which led to the deaths of two United States Capitol Police officers. Officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson were killed when Russell Eugene Weston Jr., entered the Capitol and opened fire. Gibson died during surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Chestnut died at George Washington University Hospital. Weston's exact motives are unknown, but he had expressed a strong distrust of the federal government of the United States and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia six years before the attack. Weston was later charged on July 26 for the murder of two U.S. Capitol Police officers during the shooting rampage. As of July 2018, Weston remained in a mental institution.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Shooting
On the day of the shooting, Officer Chestnut and an unarmed, civilian security aide were assigned to operate the X-ray machine and magnetometer at the Document Door entrance located on the East Front of the Capitol, which was open only to Members of Congress and their staff. Detective Gibson was assigned to the dignitary protection detail of then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) and was in his suite of offices near this door. Weston, armed with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson six-shot revolver, entered the Document Door at 3:40 p.m.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Shooting
At the same time, Officer Chestnut was providing directions to a tourist and his son. Weston walked through the metal detector,  causing the alarm to go off. Chestnut requested he go back through the detector. Weston suddenly produced the gun and without warning, shot Chestnut in the back of the head at point-blank range. At this time, Officer Douglas McMillan, normally working outside the Capitol, was nearby retrieving keys to get a wheelchair for a tourist. As Weston shot Chestnut, Officer McMillan immediately returned fire, causing Weston to shoot toward McMillan, wounding him.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Shooting
Weston then ran away from McMillan, turning into the first nearby open door that he found. McMillan was unable to successfully hit Weston due to the many civilians in the immediate area. According to witnesses, Weston turned down a short corridor and pushed through a door which led to a group of offices used by senior Republican representatives including then House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and Representative Dennis Hastert, future Speaker of the House and a close protégé of then Speaker Newt Gingrich.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Shooting
Upon hearing the gunfire, Detective Gibson, who was in plainclothes, told the office staff to hide under their desks. Weston entered the office and quickly shot Gibson. Mortally wounded, Gibson returned fire, shooting Weston four times. Two other officers arrested Weston in the same office. Senator Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who had been presiding on the Senate floor just before the shooting, resuscitated the gunman and accompanied him to D.C. General Hospital.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Shooting
Angela Dickerson, a tourist, was grazed by shrapnel on her face and shoulder from a marble wall, as McMillan's rounds impacted on the wall while he was attempting to hit the fleeing Weston. She was treated for her injuries and released.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
Officers Chestnut and Gibson were killed in the attack. Both officers received the tribute of lying in honor in the United States Capitol rotunda. They were the first police officers, and Chestnut was the first male African American, to receive the honor.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
In 1999, Weston was found incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness; he had a history of schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication. A judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered that he be treated with antipsychotic medication without his consent in 2001, and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the decision. In 2004, the court determined that Weston still was not competent to be tried, despite ongoing treatment, and suspended but did not dismiss the criminal charges against him. Weston was known to the United States Secret Service prior to the incident as a person who had threatened the President of the United States.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
The shooting led to the creation of the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization managed by the Capitol Police Board which provides funds for the families of Chestnut and Gibson. In November 2005, the fund was expanded to include the family of Sgt. Christopher Eney, a USCP officer killed during a training accident in 1984. The shooting was cited as one reason for the development of the Capitol Visitors Center.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
The legislation authorizing the construction of the facility was introduced by Washington, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and was entitled the Jacob Joseph Chestnut–John Michael Gibson United States Capitol Visitor Center Act of 1998. The door where Weston entered was renamed in honor of the two officers, from the Document Door to the Chestnut-Gibson Memorial Door.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
On March 6, 2008, Weston filed a motion requesting a hearing on his mental status. The hearing was held on May 6 with Weston appearing via teleconference from the Federal Medical Center, Butner with his public defender Jane Pierce and two witnesses he selected, a psychologist and vocational rehabilitation specialist. Federal judge Earl Britt denied Weston's request to be released from the federal facility, arguing that he failed to present enough evidence that he no longer needed to be committed.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
During the hearing defense psychologist Holly Rogers stated that, "sometimes there are individuals who simply do not respond to medication", implying that Weston was not ready for release. Had Weston been released from the facility, it would have made it possible for him to be taken to Washington, D.C. to stand trial for the murders of Gibson and Chestnut.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Aftermath
On July 24, 2008, members of Congress paused for a moment of silence to mark the shooting's ten-year anniversary. On the east lawn of the Capitol, Democratic and Republican lawmakers planted a tree in memory of Gibson and Chestnut.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Officers
Officer Jacob Joseph Chestnut (April 28, 1940 – July 24, 1998) was the first African American to lie in honor at the Capitol. He retired as a master sergeant from the United States Air Force after 20 years of service in the Air Force Security Police. Chestnut's career included two tours in the Vietnam War. Chestnut is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His funeral included a speech by President Bill Clinton and a fly-over by military jets in a missing man formation. A United States Post Office located in Fort Washington, Maryland, has been renamed in his and Detective John Gibson's honor, as was the building housing the United States Air Force's 20th Security Forces Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Officers
Detective John Michael Gibson (March 29, 1956 – July 24, 1998) was a United States Capitol Police officer assigned to the dignitary protection detail of Congressman Tom DeLay. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery after lying in honor with Chestnut in the Capitol rotunda. Gibson had served with the agency for 18 years. He was a native of Massachusetts who married the niece of Representative Joe Moakley. He had three children, a 17-year-old daughter and two boys, ages 15 and 14. Growing up in New England, Gibson was a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, and on August 11, 1998, his beloved team had a moment of silence in his honor prior to a game with the Kansas City Royals.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
Russell Eugene Weston, Jr. (born December 28, 1956), also known as Rusty, grew up in Valmeyer, Illinois. Weston attended Valmeyer High School, the only high school in a town of 900 people. Shortly after graduating from high school in 1974, Weston moved to Rimini, Montana, rarely returning to Valmeyer. The only attempt his high school classmates made at inviting him to a class reunion was returned with obscenities written across it. Many of Weston's Montana neighbors had disliked him, and often ignored him. They considered him to be unusual, and sometimes eccentric. Weston had once thought that his neighbor was using his television satellite dish to spy on his actions and believed Navy SEALs were hiding in his cornfield.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia six years before the shooting and spent fifty-three days in a mental hospital after threatening a Montana resident. He was released after testing as being of no danger to himself or anyone else. Two years before the shooting in July of 1996, Weston bought a new suit and set off on a cross-country trip to visit the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in McLean, Virginia. There, he gave his operative name as "The Moon," and claimed he had important information for the CIA director.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
Apparently based on nothing more than this he was admitted to the facility, where he was interviewed by an unnamed CIA officer and then sent on his way. It is unknown why Weston, who has no known security credentials nor connection to the intelligence community, was granted access to the agency's high-security headquarters facility.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
Eighteen months before the shooting, he moved back to Valmeyer from Montana. Once home, he was known to compulsively hack at trees which filled his back yard following the Mississippi River floods of 1993. There was so much downed timber on his family's homestead that they had to ask him to stop cutting at trees. Two days prior to the Capitol shooting, at his grandmother's insistence to do something about nearby cats which were becoming a nuisance, Weston shot and killed 14 cats with a single-barreled shotgun, leaving several in a bucket and burying the rest.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
Following the Capitol shooting, Weston was transferred to a psychiatric center at Butner Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina. In an interview with a court-appointed psychiatrist he explained that he stormed the Capitol to prevent the United States from being annihilated by disease and legions of cannibals.


1998 United States Capitol shooting, Perpetrator
One contentious issue of Weston's incarceration was that of forced medication. He had refused to take any medications voluntarily, so in May 2001, a federal judge authorized doctors to treat Weston involuntarily. A panel from a federal appeals court ruled in July 2001 that Weston could be forced to take the drugs, which he was then forced to do for 120 days. He remains in the civil commitment indefinitely.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska
The Alaska congressional election of 1998 was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1998. The term of the state's sole Representative to the United States House of Representatives expired on January 3, 1999. The winning candidate would serve a two-year term from January 3, 1999, to January 3, 2001.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia
The 1998 congressional election for the Delegate from the District of Columbia was held on November 3, 1998. The winner of the race was Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who won her fourth re-election. All elected members would serve in 106th United States Congress.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia
The non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia is elected for two-year terms.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in District of Columbia, Candidates
Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, sought election for her fifth term to the United States House of Representatives. Norton was opposed in this election by Republican challenger Edward Henry Wolterbeek who received 6.31%. This resulted in Norton being re-elected with 89.64% of the vote.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in Montana
The 1998 United States House of Representatives election in Montana were held on November 3, 1998 to determine who will represent the state of Montana in the United States House of Representatives. Montana has one, at large district in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census, due to its low population. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont
The 1998 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1998 to elect the U.S. Representative from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including an election to the U.S. Senate.


1998 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming
The 1998 United States House of Representatives election in Wyoming were held on November 3, 1998 to determine who will represent the state of Wyoming in the United States House of Representatives. Wyoming has one, at large district in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census, due to its low population. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections were part of the midterm elections held during President Bill Clinton's second term. 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. However, the Republicans lost five seats to the Democrats, but retained a narrow majority in the House. A wave of Republican discontent with Speaker Newt Gingrich prompted him to resign shortly after the election; he was replaced by Congressman Dennis Hastert of Illinois.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections
The campaign was marked by Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton, with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr having released his report on the 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.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections
With the Republicans having lost four 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 midterm election. It was also the first time since 1822 that the non-presidential party had failed to gain seats in the midterm election of a President's second term.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona
The 1998 congressional elections in Arizona were elections for Arizona's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred along with congressional elections nationwide on November 7, 1998. Arizona has six seats, as apportioned during the 1990 United States Census. Republicans held five seats and Democrats held one seat.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in California
The United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1998 was an election for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 3, 1998. Democrats gained the 1st district but lost the 3rd and 36th (which they would gain back in 2000) districts for a net loss of one seat.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in California
This was the last time until a special election in 2020 where a Republican flipped a Democrat-held U.S. House seat in California, and also the last time until 2020 that Republicans flipped a Democrat-held seat in a general election.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in California, Separate elections
Three special elections were held apart from those in November. The elected winners would serve the remainder of the incumbent Congress and face re-election in November.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
The 1998 House elections in Georgia occurred on November 3, 1998 to elect the members of the State of Georgia's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Georgia had eleven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia
These elections were held concurrently with the United States Senate elections of 1998 (including one election in Georgia), the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Indiana
The 1998 congressional elections in Indiana were elections for Indiana's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred along with congressional elections nationwide on November 3, 1998. Republicans held a majority of Indiana's delegation over the Democrats, 6-4. Representatives were elected using the U.S. congressional districts based on the 1990 U.S. Census.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Indiana, Results
The following are the final results from the Secretary of State of Indiana.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas were held on November 3, 1998 to elect the four U.S. Representatives from the state of Kansas, one from each of the state's four congressional districts. Primaries were held on August 4, 1998.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland
The 1998 congressional elections in Maryland were held on November 3, 1998, to determine who will represent the state of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives. Maryland has eight seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 106th Congress from January 3, 1999 until January 3, 2001.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan
The 1998 congressional elections in Michigan was held on November 3, 1998 to determine who would represent the state of Michigan in the United States House of Representatives. Michigan had sixteen seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire
The 1998 congressional elections in New Hampshire were held on November 3, 1998 to determine who will represent the state of New Hampshire in the United States House of Representatives. It coincided with the state's senatorial elections. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 106th Congress from January 1999 until January 2001. New Hampshire has two seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina
The United States House of Representative elections of 1998 in North Carolina were held on 3 November 1998 as part of the biennial election to the United States House of Representatives. All twelve seats in North Carolina, and 435 nationwide, were elected.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina
The Republicans won seven seats to the Democrats' five. Eleven incumbents won re-election, while Democrat Bill Hefner's retirement in the 8th district allowed Republican Robin Hayes to enter the House for the first time. The Libertarian Party ran in every district, almost quadrupling their total vote share, but their vote was smaller than the margin of victory in all races.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina
It is not to be confused with the election to the North Carolina House of Representatives, which was held on the same day.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 3, 1998, to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. The primary elections for the Democrats and the Republicans were held on June 9 and the runoff elections were held two weeks later on June 23. All five incumbents who ran were re-elected and the open seat in the 4th congressional district was retained by the Republicans. The composition of the state delegation remained four Republicans and two Democrats.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1st congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Mark Sanford of the 1st congressional district, in office since 1995, defeated Natural Law candidate Joseph F. Innella.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2nd congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Floyd Spence of the 2nd congressional district, in office since 1971, defeated Democratic challenger Jane Frederick.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 3rd congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Lindsey Graham of the 3rd congressional district, in office since 1995, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 4th congressional district
Incumbent Republican Congressman Bob Inglis of the 4th congressional district, in office since 1993, chose to run for Senator instead of re-election. Jim DeMint won the Republican primary and defeated Democrat Glenn Reese in the general election.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 5th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman John M. Spratt, Jr. of the 5th congressional district, in office since 1983, defeated Republican challenger Mike Burkhold.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 6th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of the 6th congressional district, in office since 1993, defeated Republican challenger Gary McLeod.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 3, 1998, to elect the members of the state of Texas's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Texas had thirty seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas
These elections occurred simultaneously with the United States Senate elections of 1998, the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on November 3, 1998 to determine who will represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. Virginia has eleven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia
The 1998 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia were held on November 3, 1998 to determine who will represent the state of West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. West Virginia has three seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms. As of 2021, this is the last time that the Democrats won all three congressional seats in West Virginia.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 1
Incumbent Democrat Alan Mollohan defeated Libertarian Richard Kerr. This district covers the northern part of the state.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 2
Incumbent Democrat Bob Wise defeated Republican Sally Anne Kay and Libertarian John Brown. This district covers the central part of the state.


1998 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia, District 3
Incumbent Democrat Nick Rahall defeated Libertarian Joe Whelan. This district covers the southern part of the state.


1998 United States Road Racing Championship
The 1998 United States Road Racing Championship season was the inaugural season of the revived United States Road Racing Championship run by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The season involved four classes: Can-Am prototypes and three Grand Touring classes referred to at GT1, GT2, and GT3. Five races were run from January 31, 1998, to August 23, 1998.


1998 United States Senate election in Alabama
The 1998 United States Senate election in Alabama was held November 3, 1998, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Shelby won re-election to a third term. Shelby was elected in 1986 and 1992 as a Democrat, but switched to the Republican party in 1994 after the Republican Revolution, making this the first election he competed in as a Republican.


1998 United States Senate election in Alaska
The 1998 United States Senate election in Alaska was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican United States Senator Frank Murkowski sought re-election to a fourth term in the United States Senate. Murkowski easily won re-election against Democratic nominee Joseph Sonneman, a perennial candidate, earning nearly 75% of the vote.


1998 United States Senate election in Arizona
The 1998 United States Senate election in Arizona was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John McCain won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate election in Arkansas
The 1998 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic Senator Dale Bumpers chose to retire instead of running for reelection to a fifth term. Democratic nominee and former U.S. Representative Blanche Lincoln won the open seat against Republican State Senator Fay Boozman. In the 2010 election, Lincoln would be defeated in her bid for reelection to a third term by Fay Boozman's younger brother John Boozman.


1998 United States Senate election in California
The 1998 United States Senate election in California was held November 2, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in California, General election, Results
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.


1998 United States Senate election in Colorado
The 1998 United States Senate election in Colorado was held November 3, 1998, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell won re-election to a second term by a landslide.


1998 United States Senate election in Colorado
This was the first time a Republican had been elected to the Class 3 Senate seat from Colorado in 30 years; as of 2021, is the last time the Republicans have won the Class 3 Senate seat from Colorado, and the last time that a Native American was elected to the United States Senate.


1998 United States Senate election in Colorado, General election, Campaign
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.


1998 United States Senate election in Connecticut
The 1998 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held November 3, 1998 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Dodd won re-election for a fourth term against former Republican U.S. Congressman Gary Franks.


1998 United States Senate election in Florida
The 1998 United States Senate election in Florida was held November 3, 1998 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Graham won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate seat from Florida.


1998 United States Senate election in Florida, General election, Results
Graham defeated Crist in a landslide, as Crist won just four counties in the state. There were no third party or independent candidates.


1998 United States Senate election in Georgia
The 1998 United States Senate election in Georgia was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell won re-election to a second term. Coverdell would remain in the Senate until his death on July 18, 2000.


1998 United States Senate election in Hawaii
The 1998 United States Senate election in Hawaii was held November 3, 1998 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye won re-election to a seventh term.


1998 United States Senate election in Idaho
The 1998 United States Senate election in Idaho was held November 3, 1998 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Dirk Kempthorne decided to retire after one term to run for governor. Republican nominee Mike Crapo won the open seat.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois
The 1998 United States Senate election in Illinois was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator 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. Fitzgerald won with a margin of victory of approximately 3%. He won all but five counties, and became the only Republican Senate candidate to defeat a Democratic incumbent in 1998.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for House and as those for state offices.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
For the primary elections, turnout was 20.55%, with 1,386,694 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 50.25%, with 3,394,521 votes cast.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Campaign
During Moseley Braun's first term as U.S. Senator, she was plagued by several major controversies. Moseley Braun was the subject of a 1993 Federal Elections 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.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Campaign
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.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Campaign
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%. 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.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Campaign
In September, Moseley Braun created controversy again by using the word "nigger" to describe how she claims to be a victim of racism.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Campaign
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. Representative Luis Gutiérrez, three polls published in the last week showed her within the margin of error, and, in one poll, running even with Fitzgerald.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Results
The incumbent 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 wasn't quite enough to win. Fitzgerald would only serve one term in the senate. Fitzgerald initially intended to run for a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election, Results
However, after many Republicans and Democrats announced their intentions to run, Fitzgerald decided to retire. Fitzgerald would serve from January 3, 1999 to January 3, 2005. On January 3, 2005, Fitzgerald was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama.


1998 United States Senate election in Indiana
The 1998 United States Senate election in Indiana was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator 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.


1998 United States Senate election in Indiana, Results, By county
Bayh won 88 of Indiana's counties compared to 4 for Helmke.


1998 United States Senate election in Iowa
The 1998 United States Senate election in Iowa was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican United States Senator Chuck Grassley sought re-election to a fourth term in the United States Senate, running 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 defeated Osterberg in a landslide.


1998 United States Senate election in Kansas
The 1998 United States Senate election in Kansas was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator 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.


1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky
The 1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held November 3, 1998. It was concurrent with elections to the United States House of Representatives. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Wendell Ford decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican U.S. Representative Jim Bunning narrowly won the open seat, defeating Democratic U.S. Representative Scotty Baesler. This was the first open Senate seat since 1972. By a margin of 0.59%, this election was the second-closest race of the 1998 Senate election cycle, behind only the election in Nevada.


1998 United States Senate election in Louisiana
The 1998 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Breaux won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate seat from Louisiana.


1998 United States Senate election in Maryland
The 1998 United States Senate election in Maryland was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate election in Missouri
The 1998 United States Senate election in Missouri was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kit Bond won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate election in Nevada
The 1998 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Harry Reid won re-election to a third term. By a margin of less than 0.1%, this election was the closest race of the 1998 Senate election cycle.


1998 United States Senate election in Nevada, General election, Campaign
Early in the campaign, Reid held a double-digit lead over Ensign in most polls. After a fierce battle of attack ads on television by both candidates, Ensign pulled into a dead heat with Reid. This reversal of fortune was attributed to several factors. More than 125,000 new residents had arrived in Nevada since 1992, many of them settling in Ensign's suburban Clark County congressional district. As such, many of them were more familiar with Ensign than with Reid, whose previous Republican opponents had hailed from other regions of the state.


1998 United States Senate election in Nevada, General election, Campaign
Republican consultant John Maddox observed that Ensign's greater familiarity to the Las Vegas metropolitan region gave him an advantage, adding that "he has won votes from Democrats who have never voted for Reid." In contrast, Reid was believed to hold an advantage with longtime Nevada residents, particularly those in slower-growing regions of the state. In addition, the number of registered Republicans in Nevada had dramatically increased as well; in 1992, Democrats had held an advantage of approximately 40,000 registered voters, but by 1998 Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 4,000. John Ralston, a political analyst in Las Vegas, claimed that Reid was also hurt by declining voter enthusiasm in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Reid had been one of the first senators to express dissatisfaction with President Clinton over the scandal, describing the president's behavior as "immoral."


1998 United States Senate election in Nevada, General election, Campaign
During the campaign, Reid cited his efforts to block the storage of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain repository, while also using the issue to attack Ensign. In one campaign speech, Reid claimed, "You send Ensign to the Senate, you send nuclear waste to Nevada." Ensign responded to the attacks by pointing out his own position against the depository and indicated he would work with Richard Bryan, the state's other senator, to stop it. "Bryan's a Democrat who works with Republicans," he said, "and I'm a Republican who works with Democrats." The Reid campaign also attacked Ensign as an "extremist" who would weaken Social Security and referred to environmentalists as "socialists." Ensign, meanwhile accused Reid of supporting tax increases in Washington even as he claimed to support lower taxes at home.


1998 United States Senate election in Nevada, General election, Results
On November 3, 1998, Reid won by 401 votes in an exceptionally close election—even closer than South Dakota in 2002, when incumbent Senator Tim Johnson defeated Congressman John Thune by 524 votes. Ensign did not contest the results, and was elected to Nevada's other Senate seat in 2000, much like Thune who was elected to South Dakota's other Senate seat in 2004.


1998 United States Senate election in New Hampshire
The 1998 United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Judd Gregg won re-election to his second term.


1998 United States Senate election in New York
The 1998 United States Senate election in New York was held November 3, 1998 along with elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Al D'Amato was running for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Democrat Chuck Schumer in what was considered by many to be the "high[est] profile and nastiest" contest of the year. This was the first election since 1950 in which a Democrat was elected to the Class 3 United States Senate seat from New York, and the first time since Robert F. Wagner's re-election in 1944 that New York had sent two Democrats to the United States Senate.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, Democratic primary, Campaign
Ferraro was well known for having been the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee and had also run but lost in the Democratic primary in the 1992 U.S. Senate election in New York. Green had been the Democratic nominee in the 1986 election, but lost in the general election to D'Amato.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, Democratic primary, Campaign
At the start of 1998, Ferraro had done no fundraising, out of fear of conflict of interest with her job hosting the CNN program Crossfire, but was nonetheless perceived as the front-runner by virtue of her name recognition; indeed, December and January polls had her 25 percentage points ahead of Green in the race and even further ahead of Schumer. Unlike her previous campaigns, Ferraro's family finances never became an issue in 1998. However, she lost ground during the summer, with Schumer catching her in the polls by early August and then soon passing her.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, Democratic primary, Campaign
Schumer, a tireless fundraiser, outspent her by a five-to-one margin, and Ferraro failed to establish a political image current with the times. In the September 15, 1998, primary, she was beaten soundly by Schumer with a 51 percent to 26 percent margin. Unlike the bitter 1992 Democratic senatorial primary, this contest was not divisive, and Ferraro and third-place finisher Green endorsed Schumer at a unity breakfast the following day.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
During the campaign, D'Amato attempted to brand Schumer as a diehard liberal, while Schumer accused D'Amato of being a liar. When D'Amato's first strategy failed, D'Amato attacked his opponent's attendance record as a member of Congress, which Schumer refuted.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
Late in the campaign, D'Amato called Schumer a "putzhead" in a private meeting with Jewish supporters ("putz" is Yiddish for penis, and can be slang for "fool"). He later apologized for the comment.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
In the last days of the campaign, D'Amato campaigned with popular Governor George Pataki, who was also running for re-election, and was also supported by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Mayor Ed Koch (a Democrat).


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Clinton personally campaigned for Schumer, as D'Amato was a prominent critic of President Bill Clinton who led the investigation into Whitewater. Though the Republican party was well organized, the Democratic party benefited from robocalls from President Clinton and mobilization from two big unions, United Federation of Teachers and 1199.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Campaign
Though D'Amato was effective in obtaining federal government funds for New York State projects during his Senate career, he failed to capitalize on this in the election. Also, Schumer was a tenacious fund-raiser and was aggressive in his attacks. The candidates spent $30 million during the race.


1998 United States Senate election in New York, General election, Results
The race was not close, with Schumer defeating the incumbent D'Amato by just over 10%. D'Amato did win a majority of New York's counties, but his wins were in less populated areas. Schumer's win is attributed to strong performance in New York City. Schumer also performed well in heavily populated upstate cities, like Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany. Schumer was sworn in on January 3, 1999.


1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina
The 1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth decided to seek re-election to a second term, but was unseated by Democrat John Edwards. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats won the Class 3 Senate Seat from North Carolina. Edwards declined to run for reelection in 2004.


1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina, Major candidates
In the Democratic primary, Edwards defeated D.G. Martin, Ella Scarborough, and several minor candidates. In the Republican primary, Faircloth easily defeated two minor candidates.


1998 United States Senate election in North Dakota
The 1998 United States Senate election in North Dakota was held on November 3, 1998, along with other elections to the United States Senate as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic-NPL U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in North Dakota, Campaign
Nalewaja'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 incumbent Mark Andrews.


1998 United States Senate election in Ohio
The 1998 United States Senate election in Ohio was held November 3, 1998. It was concurrent with elections to the United States House of Representatives. Incumbent Democratic U.S Senator John Glenn decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Governor George Voinovich won the open seat.


1998 United States Senate election in Oklahoma
The 1998 United States Senate election in Oklahoma was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Don Nickles won re-election to his fourth term. Nickles won in a landslide, carrying all but one of the 77 counties in the state. The sole county Democratic candidate Don Carroll won was Haskell County.


1998 United States Senate election in Oregon
The 1998 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden won re-election to his first full term, defeating Republican nominee John Lim, a state senator.


1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter won re-election to a fourth term.


1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Campaign
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, who was a well-respected party leader but who had little statewide name recognition, was considered by Democratic party leaders to be a sacrificial lamb candidate.


1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Campaign
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 only two counties: almost uniformly Democratic Philadelphia and his home county, rural and typically Republican Somerset County.


1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina
The 1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings won reelection to his sixth full term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats won a U.S. Senate election in South Carolina.


1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina, General election, Campaign
The race between Hollings and Inglis gave the voters a choice of two very different visions of and for South Carolina. Hollings was from the Lowcountry, a face of the Old New South, and secured a large amount of federal funds for the state. On the other hand, Inglis came from the Upstate, was a face of the New New South, and opposed to pork barrel spending. Hollings viciously attacked Inglis on the campaign trail as a "goddamn skunk" and when Inglis requested that Hollings sign a pledge for campaign courtesy, Hollings replied that Inglis could "kiss his fanny." Inglis tried to tie Hollings to President Clinton, who had been tainted by the Lewinsky scandal.


1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina, General election, Campaign
Ultimately, Hollings won the race for four crucial reasons. First, Inglis refused to accept PAC donations which allowed Hollings to enjoy a huge financial advantage and blanket the state with his television advertisements. Secondly, Inglis came from the Upstate which already provided GOP majorities whereas Hollings came from the Lowcountry which was a key tossup region in the state. Thirdly, the voters two years prior in the 1996 Senate election had rewarded Strom Thurmond for his long service to the state and it was unlikely that they would then deny re-election to Hollings. Finally, the 1998 South Carolina GOP ticket was dragged down with unpopular Governor David Beasley at the top of the ticket who would go on to lose his re-election campaign to Jim Hodges.


1998 United States Senate election in South Dakota
The 1998 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held November 2, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Daschle won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats won the Class 3 Senate seat from South Dakota.


1998 United States Senate election in Utah
The 1998 United States Senate election in Utah was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Bennett won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont
The 1998 United States Senate election in Vermont was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy won reelection to a fifth term.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont
Notably, the Republican nominee, dairy farmer and actor Fred Tuttle, had run to draw attention to the mock documentary film Man with a Plan, of which he was the star, and to ridicule Republican candidate Jack McMullen as too new to Vermont to represent it in Washington. After winning the nomination, Tuttle endorsed Leahy and all but withdrew from the race. His campaign, which had been conducted primarily from his front porch in Tunbridge, Vermont, spent only $251 during the election season and featured the slogans "Spread Fred!" and "Why Not?". Despite his endorsement of Leahy, Tuttle still received 48,051 votes, or 22% of the total.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
McMullen had maintained a vacation home in Warren, Vermont beginning in 1983, and he made Vermont his permanent residence beginning in 1997.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
In 1998, he declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator. As related by Chris Graff, longtime Vermont bureau chief for the Associated Press, McMullen's candidacy sustained an immediate blow when Graff interviewed retired Senator Robert Stafford about the January 1998 ice storm and other current events. During the discussion, Stafford persistently got McMullen's name wrong, calling him "Mulholland". Graff wrote that he tried to politely correct Stafford, but finally realized that Stafford's intent was to convey his opinion that McMullen was too unknown and too new to Vermont to be a viable candidate.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
The lede in the resulting story was that Vermont's senior Republican was of the view that McMullen had not lived in the state long enough to represent it in the senate, and Stafford's dismissal of McMullen as "Mulholland or whatever his name is" became a running joke among reporters and political operatives.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
In the Republican primary, McMullen faced Fred Tuttle, a retired dairy farmer who had starred in a mock documentary film called Man with a Plan, a comedy about a retired farmer who decides to run for Vermont's seat in the United States House of Representatives. Tuttle and filmmaker John O'Brien considered using a Tuttle candidacy to promote the film, and accepted a suggestion from political columnist Peter Freyne to challenge McMullen rather than incumbent Congressman Bernie Sanders.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
Tuttle then ran in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, partly to generate awareness of the movie, and partly to mock McMullen as a carpetbagger and flatlander (Vermont slang for an out-of-stater) who had moved to Vermont only because he thought it would be easier to run for the Senate there than in more populous Massachusetts. McMullen was slow to recognize that the Tuttle/O'Brien strategy was viable; when the McMullen campaign challenged Tuttle's nominating petitions as 23 short of the required 500 signatures, Tuttle turned in an additional 2,300.


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
During a debate before the primary, Tuttle underscored McMullen's newness to Vermont. One question he posed to McMullen was "What's a tedder?" (A machine for drying hay.) Another was "What's rowen?" (The second cutting of hay from the same field in one season.) Tuttle continued with queries like "How many teats a Holstein got?" (Four; McMullen guessed six.) Tuttle then provided McMullen a list of local place names and asked him to pronounce them. McMullen's inexperience with Vermont geography showed, as he mispronounced names including Leicester (Lester is correct), Calais (callous being the correct way), and Charlotte (shar-LOT, not Shar-Lit).


1998 United States Senate election in Vermont, Republican primary, Campaign
The campaign made national headlines, and added to Tuttle's semi-celebrity status. Despite McMullen spending over $500,000 to Tuttle's $200, on primary day, Tuttle beat McMullen 28,355 votes to 23,321 (55 percent to 45). Tuttle immediately announced his intention to vote for incumbent Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, after which the two made several joint appearances. On election day, Leahy defeated Tuttle and several minor candidates to win reelection.


1998 United States Senate election in Washington
The 1998 United States Senate election in Washington was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
The 1998 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate election in Wisconsin, Campaign
In September 1997, Neumann announced his candidacy for the United States Senate against Russ 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.


1998 United States Senate elections
The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3 and 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.


1998 United States Senate elections
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.


1998 United States Senate elections
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 a mid-term election and the first time since 1822 that this party failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President's second term. 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Gains, losses, and holds
Both Democrats and Republicans gained three seats from the other party, thereby maintaining the same party ratio.


1998 United States Senate elections, Race summary, Elections leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1999; ordered by state.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Arizona
Incumbent Republican John McCain won re-election to a third term over Democratic attorney Ed Ranger.


1998 United States Senate elections, Arkansas
Incumbent Dale Bumpers retired. U.S. Representative Blanche Lincoln won the open seat.


1998 United States Senate elections, California
Incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, California
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Colorado
Incumbent Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Colorado
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Connecticut
Incumbent Democrat Chris Dodd won re-election for a fourth term against former Republican U.S. Congressman Gary A. Franks.


1998 United States Senate elections, Florida
Incumbent Democrat Bob Graham won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Florida
Graham defeated Crist in a landslide, as Crist won just four counties in the state. There were no third party or independent candidates.


1998 United States Senate elections, Georgia
Incumbent Republican Paul Coverdell won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Hawaii
Incumbent Democrat Daniel Inouye won re-election to a seventh term over Republican legislative aide Crystal Young.


1998 United States Senate elections, Idaho
Incumbent Republican Dirk Kempthorne decided to retire after one term to run for governor. Republican nominee Mike Crapo won the open seat.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
He ended up defeating the incumbent, with a margin of victory of approximately 3%. Peter Fitzgerald won all but five counties.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
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 Elections 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
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%. 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
In September, Moseley Braun created controversy again by using the word "nigger" to describe how she claims to be a victim of racism.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Illinois
Moseley Braun was narrowly defeated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. Moseley Braun only won four 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 wasn't quite enough to win.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, 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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Louisiana
Incumbent Democrat John Breaux won re-election to a third term. As of 2016, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from Louisiana.


1998 United States Senate elections, Maryland
Incumbent Democrat Barbara Mikulski won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Missouri
Incumbent Republican Kit Bond won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Nevada
Incumbent Democrat Harry Reid won re-election to a third term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Nevada
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, New Hampshire
Incumbent Republican Judd Gregg won re-election to his second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
Incumbent Republican Al D'Amato was running for re-election to a fourth term, but lost to Chuck Schumer in what was considered by many to be the "high[est] profile and nastiest" contest of the year.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. Representative and nominee for Vice President in 1984, was well known for having been the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee and had also run but lost in the Democratic primary in the 1992 U.S. Senate election in New York. Mark Green, New York City Public Advocate, had been the Democratic nominee in the 1986 election, but lost in the general election to D'Amato.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
At the start of 1998, Ferraro had done no fundraising, out of fear of conflict of interest with her job hosting the CNN program Crossfire, but was nonetheless perceived as the front-runner by virtue of her name recognition; indeed, December and January polls had her 25 percentage points ahead of Green in the race and even further ahead of Schumer. Unlike her previous campaigns, Ferraro's family finances never became an issue in 1998. However, she lost ground during the summer, with Schumer catching her in the polls by early August and then soon passing her.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
Schumer, a tireless fundraiser, outspent her by a five-to-one margin, and Ferraro failed to establish a political image current with the times. In the September 15, 1998, primary, she was beaten soundly by Schumer with a 51 percent to 26 percent margin. Unlike the bitter 1992 Democratic senatorial primary, this contest was not divisive, and Ferraro and third-place finisher Green endorsed Schumer at a unity breakfast the following day.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
During the general campaign, D'Amato attempted to brand Schumer as a diehard liberal, while Schumer accused D'Amato of being a liar. When D'Amato's first strategy failed, D'Amato attacked his opponent's attendance record as a member of Congress, which Schumer refuted.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
Late in the campaign, D'Amato called Schumer a "putzhead" in a private meeting with Jewish supporters ("putz" is Yiddish for penis, and can be slang for "fool"). The senator later apologized.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
In the last days of the campaign, D'Amato campaigned with popular Governor George Pataki, who was also running for re-election, and was also supported by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Mayor Ed Koch (a Democrat) Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Clinton personally campaigned for Schumer, as D'Amato was a prominent critic of President Bill Clinton who led the investigation into Whitewater. Though the Republican party was well organized, the Democratic party benefited from robocalls from President Clinton and mobilization from two big unions, United Federation of Teachers and 1199.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
Though D'Amato was effective in obtaining federal government funds for New York State projects during his Senate career, he failed to capitalize on this in the election. Also, Schumer was a tenacious fund-raiser and was aggressive in his attacks. The candidates spent $30 million during the race.


1998 United States Senate elections, New York
The race was not close with Schumer defeating the incumbent D'Amato by just over 10%. D'Amato did win a majority of New York's counties, but his wins were in less populated areas. Schumer's win is attributed to strong performance in New York City. Schumer also performed well in heavily populated upstate cities, like Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany.


1998 United States Senate elections, North Carolina
Incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth decided to seek re-election to a second term, but was unseated by Democrat John Edwards.


1998 United States Senate elections, North Carolina
In the Democratic primary, Edwards defeated D. G. Martin, Ella Scarborough, and several minor candidates. In the Republican primary, Faircloth easily defeated two minor candidates.


1998 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
Incumbent NPL–Democrat Byron Dorgan won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Ohio
Incumbent Democratic U.S Senator John Glenn decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Governor George Voinovich won the open seat.


1998 United States Senate elections, Oklahoma
Incumbent Republican Don Nickles won re-election to his fourth term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Oregon
Incumbent Democratic Ron Wyden won re-election to his first full term, defeating Republican nominee John Lim, a state senator.


1998 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
Incumbent Republican Arlen Specter won re-election to a fourth term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, South Carolina
Incumbent Democrat Fritz Hollings won re-election to his sixth full term. As of 2016, this is the last Senate election in South Carolina won by a Democrat.


1998 United States Senate elections, South Carolina
The race between Hollings and Bob Inglis, U.S. Representative gave the voters a choice of two very different visions of and for South Carolina. Hollings was from the Lowcountry, a face of the Old New South, and secured a large amount of federal funds for the state. On the other hand, Inglis came from the Upstate, was a face of the New New South, and opposed to pork barrel spending. Hollings viciously attacked Inglis on the campaign trail as a "goddamn skunk" and when Inglis requested that Hollings sign a pledge for campaign courtesy, Hollings replied that Inglis could "kiss his fanny." Inglis tried to tie Hollings to President Clinton, who had been tainted by the Lewinsky scandal.


1998 United States Senate elections, South Carolina
Ultimately, Hollings won the race for four crucial reasons. First, Inglis refused to accept PAC donations which allowed Hollings to enjoy a huge financial advantage and blanket the state with his television advertisements. Secondly, Inglis came from the Upstate which already provided GOP majorities whereas Hollings came from the Lowcountry which was a key tossup region in the state. Thirdly, the voters two years prior in the 1996 Senate election had rewarded Strom Thurmond for his long service to the state and it was unlikely that they would then deny re-election to Hollings. Finally, the 1998 South Carolina GOP ticket was dragged down with unpopular Governor David Beasley at the top of the ticket who would go on to lose his re-election campaign to Jim Hodges.


1998 United States Senate elections, South Dakota
Incumbent Democrat Tom Daschle won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from South Dakota.


1998 United States Senate elections, Utah
Incumbent Republican Bob Bennett won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Vermont
Incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy won re-election to a fifth term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Vermont
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.


1998 United States Senate elections, Washington
Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray won re-election to a second term.


1998 United States Senate elections, Wisconsin
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.


1998 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia
The 1998 Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia took place on November 13, 1998, to elect a shadow member to the United States House of Representatives to represent the District of Columbia. Unlike non-voting delegates, the Shadow Representative is only recognized by the District of Columbia and is not officially sworn or seated. One-term incumbent Sabrina Sojourner declined to run for reelection and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Tom Bryant.


1998 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, Primary elections, Other primaries
Primaries were held for the Republican, and Umoja parties but no candidates were on the ballot and only write-in votes were cast.


1998 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, Primary elections, Other candidates, Green
Social justice activist and writer Mike Livingston was nominated by the DC Green Party. The DC Green Party had only been founded earlier that year and Livingston was among the first Green candidates to appear on the ballot.


1998 United States Shadow Representative election in the District of Columbia, General election
The general election took place on November 13. This was the first election contested by the Green Party, which had been founded earlier that year. Livingston exceeded the 7,500 vote threshold needed to achieve ballot access for the Greens in future elections.


1998 United States Soccer Federation presidential election
The 1998 United States Soccer Federation presidential election was held on August 22, 1998 to determine the next President of the United States Soccer Federation. Robert Contiguglia, who succeeds two-term president Alan I. Rothenberg, has been involved in soccer in the U.S. for over three decades as a player, coach and administrator at almost every level of the game.


1998 United States elections
The 1998 United States elections were held on November 3, 1998 in the middle of Democratic President Bill Clinton's second term. 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.


1998 United States elections
Several Senate seats changed hands, but neither party made a net gain. In the House of Representatives, Democrats picked up five seats, marking the first time since the 1934 elections in which the incumbent president's party picked up seats in the House during a midterm election.


1998 United States elections, Federal elections, Senate elections
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 Faircloth (North Carolina). The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans.


1998 United States elections, Federal elections, House of Representatives elections
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. 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. This marked the second time since the Civil War in which the president's party gained seats in the House of Representatives in a midterm election, following the 1934 elections. Republicans would later gain seats during the 2002 mid-terms. The 1998 elections were the first time since 1822 in which the president's party gained seats in the House during the president's second mid-term.


1998 United States elections, Federal elections, House of Representatives elections
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. 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.


1998 United States elections, Federal elections, House of Representatives elections
The impeachment of Clinton likely played a major role in the success of the Democratic Party in the House and Senate elections. The election precipitated a change in Republican leadership, with Newt Gingrich resigning as Speaker of the House. 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.


1998 United States elections, State elections
Neither party made net gains in governorships. Texas Governor George W. Bush's landslide re-election solidified his status as a front-runner for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.


1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the other at the United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.


1998 United States embassy bombings
The attacks, which were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, brought Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and their terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, to the attention of the U.S. public for the first time, and resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) placing bin Laden on its ten most-wanted fugitives list. The FBI also connected the attack to Azerbaijan, as 60 calls were placed via satellite phone by bin Laden to associates in the country's capital Baku. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah were credited with being the masterminds behind the bombings.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
The bombings are widely believed to have been revenge for U.S. involvement in the extradition, and alleged torture, of four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) who had been arrested in Albania for an alleged series of murders in Egypt in the two months prior to the attacks.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
Between June and July, Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman Saleh, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar, Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya and Mohamed Hassan Tita were all renditioned from Albania to Egypt, with the co-operation of the United States; the four men were accused of participating in the assassination of Rifaat el-Mahgoub, as well as a later plot against the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo. The following month, a communique was issued warning the United States that a "response" was being prepared to "repay" them for their interference. However, the 9/11 Commission Report claims that preparations began shortly after bin Laden issued his February 1998 fatwa.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
According to journalist Lawrence Wright, the Nairobi operation was named after the Holy Kaaba in Mecca; the Dar es Salaam bombing was called Operation al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, but "neither had an obvious connection to the American embassies in Africa. Bin Laden initially said that the sites had been targeted because of the 'invasion' of Somalia; then he described an American plan to partition Sudan, which he said was hatched in the embassy in Nairobi. He also told his followers that the genocide in Rwanda had been planned inside the two American embassies." Wright concludes that bin Laden's actual goal was "to lure the United States into Afghanistan, which had long been called 'The Graveyard of Empires.'"


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
In May 1998, a villa in Nairobi was purchased by one of the bombers to enable a bomb to be built in the garage. Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan purchased a beige Toyota Dyna truck in Nairobi and a 1987 Nissan Atlas refrigeration truck in Dar es Salaam. Six metal bars were used to form a "cage" on the back of the Atlas to accommodate the bomb.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
In June 1998, KK Mohamed rented House 213 in the Illala district of Dar es Salaam, about four miles (6 km) from the U.S. embassy. A white Suzuki Samurai was used to haul bomb components hidden in rice sacks, to House 213.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
In both Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Mohammed Odeh supervised construction of two very large, 2,000-pound (900 kg) destructive devices. The Nairobi bomb was made of 400 to 500 cylinders of TNT (about the size of drink cans), ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, and detonating cord. The explosives were packed into twenty specially designed wooden crates that were sealed and then placed in the bed of the trucks. Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah ran a wire from the bomb to a set of batteries in the back of the truck cab and then to a detonator switch beneath the dashboard. The Dar es Salaam bomb was of slightly different construction: the TNT was attached to fifteen oxygen tanks and gas canisters, and was surrounded with four bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and some sandbags to tamp and direct the blast.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Motivation and preparation
The bombings were scheduled for August 7, the eighth anniversary of the arrival of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia during the early stages of the Persian Gulf War, likely a choice by Osama bin Laden.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
On August 7 between 10:30 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. local time (3:30–3:40 a.m. EDT), suicide bombers in trucks laden with explosives parked outside the embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and almost simultaneously detonated. 213 people were killed in the Nairobi blast, while 11 were killed in Dar es Salaam. An estimated 4,000 in Nairobi were wounded, and another 85 in Dar es Salaam. Seismological readings analyzed after the bombs indicated energy of between 3 to 17 short tons (2.7 to 15.4 metric tons) of high explosive material.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
Although the attacks were directed at U.S. facilities, the vast majority of casualties were local citizens of the two African countries. 12 Americans were killed, including two Central Intelligence Agency employees in the Nairobi embassy, Tom Shah (aka Uttamilal Thomas Shah) and Molly Huckaby Hardy, and one U.S. Marine, Sergeant Jesse "Nathan" Aliganga, a Marine Security Guard at the Nairobi embassy. U.S. Army Sergeant Kenneth Ray Hobson II was one of the 12 Americans killed in the attack.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
While Azzam drove the Toyota Dyna quickly toward the Nairobi embassy along with Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, local security guard Benson Okuku Bwaku was warned to open the gate immediately – and fired upon when he refused to comply. Al-Owhali threw a stun grenade at embassy guards before exiting the vehicle and running off. Osama bin Laden later offered the explanation that it had been Al-Owhali's intention to leap out and shoot the guards to clear a path for the truck, but that he had left his pistol in the truck and subsequently ran off. As Bwaku radioed to Marine Post One for backup, the truck detonated.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
The explosion damaged the embassy building and collapsed the neighboring Ufundi Building where most victims were killed, mainly students and staff of a secretarial college housed here. The heat from the blast was channeled between the buildings towards Haile Selassie Avenue where a packed commuter bus was burned. Windows were shattered in a radius of nearly 1⁄2 mile (800 m). A large number of eye injuries occurred because people in buildings nearby who had heard the first explosion of the hand grenade and the shooting went to their office windows to have a look when the main blast occurred and shattered the windows.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
Meanwhile, the Atlas truck that attacked the US Embassy at 36 Laibon Road, Dar es Salaam was being driven by Hamden Khalif Allah Awad, known as "Ahmed the German" due to his blond hair, a former camp trainer who had arrived in the country only a few days earlier. The death toll was less than in Nairobi as the U.S. embassy was located outside the city center in the upscale Oysterbay neighborhood, and a water truck prevented the suicide bombers from getting closer to the structure.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Attacks and casualties
Following the attacks, a group calling itself the "Liberation Army for Holy Sites" took credit for the bombings. U.S. investigators believe the term was a cover used by Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who had actually perpetrated the bombing.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response
In response to the bombings, President Bill Clinton ordered Operation Infinite Reach, a series of cruise missile strikes on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan on August 20, 1998, announcing the planned strike in a prime time address on U.S. television.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response
The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1189 condemning the attacks on the embassies.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response
Both embassies were heavily damaged and the Nairobi embassy had to be rebuilt. It is now located across the road from the United Nations Office at Nairobi for security purposes.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response
A memorial park was constructed on the former embassy site, dedicated on the third anniversary of the attack. Public protest marred the opening ceremony after it was announced that the park, including its wall inscribed with the names of the dead, would not be free to the public. As of 2018, the park continues to charge an entrance fee.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response
Within months following the bombings, the United States Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security added Kenya to its Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA), which was originally created in 1983. While the addition was largely a formality to reaffirm U.S. commitment to fighting terrorism in Kenya, it nonetheless sparked the beginning of an active bilateral antiterrorism campaign between the United States and Kenya. The U.S. government also rapidly and permanently increased the monetary aid to Kenya. Immediate changes included a $42 million grant targeted specifically towards Kenyan victims.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response, Opati v. Republic of Sudan
In 2001, lead plaintiff James Owens and others filed a civil lawsuit against Sudan, for its role in the attack, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act with the recently-added 1996 amendments for state-sponsored terrorism. They argued that Sudan was at fault for providing sanctuary to the bombers, prior to the attack.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response, Opati v. Republic of Sudan
The lawsuit was prolonged over a decade, hampered in part by the lack of Sudan sending counsel at times, but further struggled when the legal system ruled that foreign nations had sovereign immunity from cause of action in civil lawsuits based on the current language of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in a 2004 case. Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in 2008 to correct this and to allow its provisions to retroactively apply to existing lawsuits, including Owens' case. With that, hundreds more plaintiffs joined the suit, eventually with more than 700 parties listed.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response, Opati v. Republic of Sudan
By 2014, the district court awarded the plaintiffs over $10 billion. Sudan, which had not appeared during the initial lawsuit, appealed the judgment, arguing it did not understand the US civil suit system and did not understand the consequences of not appearing, but also challenged the retroactive nature of the 2008 change to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The appeals court discounted Sudan's argument regarding its lack of understanding, and still upheld them liable for the bombings, but ruled that the $4.3 billion of punitive damages were not allowed to be applied retroactively. The plaintiffs petitioned to the Supreme Court to appeal, and in May 2020, the Court ruled in Opati v. Republic of Sudan that the punitive damages could be retroactively applied, restoring the $4.3 billion that had been awarded at the District Court.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Aftermath and international response, Opati v. Republic of Sudan
In October 2020, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, after they had agreed to pay $335 million in compensation to the families of victims of the embassy bombings.


1998 United States embassy bombings, Indictment
Following the investigation, an indictment was issued. It charges the following 21 people for various alleged roles in the bombings. 19 of the cases have been settled.


1998 United States federal budget
The United States Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 1998, was a spending request by President Bill Clinton to fund government operations for October 1997 – September 1998. Figures shown in the spending request do not reflect the actual appropriations for Fiscal Year 1998, which must be authorized by Congress.


1998 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1998, in 36 states and two territories. Going into the election 24 of the seats were held by Republicans, 11 by Democrats, and one by an Independent. The elections changed the national balance of power by the loss of one Republican and the gain of one Independent, although it shifted in nine states.


1998 United States gubernatorial elections
Democrats gained open seats in California and Iowa and defeated incumbents Fob James of Alabama and David Beasley of South Carolina, while Republicans won open seats in Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and Nevada and the Reform Party won an open Republican governorship in Minnesota. By the end of the election, 23 seats were held by Republicans, 11 by Democrats, one by the Reform Party, and one by an Independent.


1998 United States gubernatorial elections
The elections coincided with the mid-term elections for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.


1998 United States gubernatorial elections
With the exception of two states (New Hampshire and Vermont), the governors elected in this election served four-year terms. New Hampshire and Vermont's governors will serve two-year terms.


1998 United States gubernatorial elections
This election marked the most recent cycle in which Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, and South Carolina elected Democrats to their respective governor's mansions.


1998 United States rugby union tour of Portugal and Spain
The 1998 United States rugby union tour of Portugal and Spain was a rugby union tour of Portugal and Spain by the United States national rugby union team during April 1998.


1998 Uruguayan Primera División, Overview
It was contested by 12 teams, and Nacional won the championship.


1998 Utah Starzz season
The 1998 WNBA season was the 2nd for the Utah Starzz. The team finished dead last in the West for the second consecutive season.


1998 Utah State Aggies football team
The 1998 Utah State Aggies football team represented Utah State University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season as a member of the Big West Conference. The Aggies were led by first-year head coach Dave Arslanian, who had been hired from Weber State. The Aggies played their home games at Romney Stadium in Logan, Utah. Utah State finished with a 3–8 record in a difficult first year for Coach Arslanian.


1998 Utah State Aggies football team, Previous season
Utah State finished the 1997 season with a record of 6-6, including a trip to the inaugural Humanitarian Bowl. Following the season, Coach John L. Smith accepted a position with Louisville as the new head football coach. Dave Arslanian was announced as the new head coach of Utah State on December 6, 1997.


1998 Utah State Aggies football team, Season summary
The Aggies opened the season against their historical rivals, the Utah Utes. The game marked the 45th consecutive season in which the two teams played each other, but only the eighth time in that span the Aggies came into the game with a winning streak in the series. Replacing most of their significant contributors, as well as the vast majority of the coaching staff, proved to be the difference maker in the game. Despite two Utah State chances late in the game to tie, the Utes won 20-12 to snap a two-game losing streak (and would not lose to the Aggies again until 2012).