# 1898 Midterm Elections First-term [[William McKinley]] administration midterm, held three months after the conclusion of the **[[Spanish-American War]]** (August 12, 1898). Patriotic mobilization around the war and around overseas-imperial debates produced an unusual outcome: Republicans lost some House seats but held majority and gained Senate seats. The 1898 cycle is also marked by the **Wilmington (NC) coup d'état** — a white-supremacist violent overthrow of the elected biracial municipal government on November 10, 1898. ## Result - **House:** Republicans lost ~21 seats but held majority (~187 of 357 Republicans vs. ~161 Democrats in the 56th Congress) - **Senate:** Republicans gained ~3 seats - **Chambers flipped:** None — Republican control held - **Net change:** Republican losses normalizing from the 1894 peak ## Notable - The **[[Spanish-American War]]** dominated political attention through summer 1898; the Treaty of Paris was being negotiated through the fall - **[[Annexation of Hawaii]]** (joint congressional resolution, July 1898) had already passed - The **Wilmington coup** (November 10, 1898) — armed white supremacists overthrew the elected biracial Fusionist municipal government in Wilmington, North Carolina, killing at least 60 Black residents; one of the only successful coups d'état in American history - The 56th Congress (1899-1901) was the venue for the Open Door Notes (1899-1900) and the [[Gold Standard Act of 1900]] ## Connections - [[William McKinley]] — Sitting president. - [[Spanish-American War]] — Concluded August 1898.