during the 1998 midterm elections, republicans lost five seats in the house of representatives—the worst performance in 64 years for a party that did not hold the presidency. polls showed that gingrich's attempt to remove president clinton from the office was widely unpopular among americans and gingrich suffered much of the blame for the election loss. facing another rebellion in the republican caucus, he announced on november 6, 1998 that he would not only stand down as speaker, but would leave the house as well, even declining to take his seat for an 11th term after he was handily re-elected in his home district.