Campaigns and Elections

Transcription

1 Campaigns and Elections Congressional Elections For the House of Representatives, every state elects a representative from each congressional district in the state. The number of congressional districts in a state is based on census data. When a state's population changes, a state may gain congressional districts, lose districts, or remain the same. (By statute, the total number of representatives remains at 435, even though the number of congressional districts in each state may vary from census to census. Furthermore, each state must have at least one representative.) For the Senate, every state holds statewide elections to send two senators to the 100-member US Senate. This has been true since passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1916 which provides for direct election of senators. Primary and General Elections Congressional elections take place in two stages, the primary election and the general election. A primary election, often referred to as simply "a primary," is an election within a political party for the purpose of choosing who will be that party's candidate for the general election. While there are variations, primaries are generally closed or open. In a closed primary, only members of a political party may vote for that party's preferred candidate. In an open primary, an eligible voter can vote in any party's primary but, the voter must choose which party's primary in which to participate. For example, a voter in a state with open primaries could vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary, but not both. A general election is the election held for the purpose of actually selecting the individuals who will hold public office. In the general election, all eligible voters choose among the candidates selected by the competing political parties, and occasionally candidates who are running as independents. As the United States has a dominant two-party system, Democrats and Republicans are typically the only viable candidates, particularly when it comes to congressional elections. Congressional elections take place every two years. All members of the House of Representatives are elected every two years. As US senators serve six-year terms, elections for

2 these seats are staggered, with one-third of Senate seats up for election every two years. Voter turnout for congressional elections varies dramatically, depending on whether they are held at the same time as presidential elections. In midterm elections, sometimes called "off year" elections, voter turnout tends to be quite low, averaging somewhat more than a third of eligible voters. In presidential election years, however, the high profile of presidential politics significantly boosts voter turnout to the benefit of congressional election turnout. The Incumbency Advantage Incumbents, or those who hold political office and are running for reelection, enjoy an extraordinary advantage against challengers in congressional elections. Due to their high profiles and tendency to draw more recognized public figures, Senate elections are relatively more competitive than House races. Between 1992 and 2008, the incumbency reelection rate for the Senate ranged from a low of 79 percent to a high of 96 percent. It is the House races however, in which the incumbency advantage is all but insurmountable. Between 1992 and 2008, the incumbency reelection rate for House members averaged approximately 95 percent, from a low of 88 percent in 1992 to a high of 98 percent in 2000 and Reelection rates such as these might seem more appropriate for an authoritarian state with rigged elections than for a modern democracy. Recalling that fair and competitive elections are one criterion by which the robustness of a democracy may be measured, it is important to understand why incumbents enjoy an often crushing advantage over their opponents. Some explanations include: 1. Name Recognition. Incumbents enjoy greater publicity and familiarity with constituents by virtue of their serving in Congress. All things being equal, many voters prefer the "devil they know" to an unknown challenger when making choices in the ballot booth, particularly if they have not researched the candidates who are running. 2. The Fundraising Advantage. Potential campaign contributors, particularly well-funded interest groups, understand that incumbents enjoy a large advantage over challengers. Lobbyists are used to seeking access to those already in office. In what becomes a selfperpetuating cycle, incumbents therefore profit from the built-in bias of campaign contributors towards incumbent candidates. 3. The Franking Privilege. Members of Congress enjoy free use of the US mail to

3 communicate with their constituents, saving them considerable sums in postage that challengers must pay. Incumbents make use of free mailing privileges to send out brochures and reports that promote their achievements on behalf of their districts or states. 4. Constituency Service. By means of their office, incumbents are positioned to deliver tangible benefits to their constituents that challengers cannot. Using their influence in Congress and positions on congressional committees, incumbents can channel federal projects, money, and the resulting jobs to their districts or states. Earmarks, or specific appropriations in a bill that target money for use in specific states or districts, is one way to achieve this. Incumbents are aided by taxpayer-funded travel allowances permitting them to visit their constituencies frequently. 5. Paid Staffs. Incumbents have large, paid staffs that allow them to better serve constituents and, by default, reelection efforts. Staff members can be delegated case work, working to solve the problems of individual residents who contact the congressperson's office. This is one way to win votes one constituent at a time. 6. The Single-Member District System. One of the largest advantages incumbents from the House of Representatives enjoy over challengers has grown even larger in the past couple of decades. In all 50 states, congressional elections use the single-member district (SMD) system of elections. Because this requires state legislatures or commissions to redistrict at least every ten years in accordance with the US census, the opportunities for gerrymandering are great. Gerrymandering is the drawing of congressional districts for partisan/political advantage. The party in charge of a state's legislature usually uses its influence to draw congressional districts in such a way that their member candidates are almost certain to win. They do so by such techniques as concentrating in a particular district a majority of those who identify with the incumbent's political party, while distributing among several other districts voters who identify with the opposite party. These noncompetitive districts, or safe seats, are a potent incumbency protection technique. Virtual Roundtable In theory, congressional elections are truly competitive and offer clear choices to voters. But in practice a host of factors, including the art of gerrymandering, typically provide a formidable advantage to incumbent candidates. Is the high incumbency rate in Congress a cause for concern?

4 Video: Chris M. Fields, Director of Outreach, Common Cause, Washington, DC Video script: Incumbents do have an incredible advantage in our current political system. Their names are already known. They already have access to donors. They have you know been in here, so they ve you know rubbed elbows, gotten to know people so, they already have this access to the money that is necessary to run their campaigns and it s very hard for challengers to sort of break into that system. End of video. Video: Jeremy M. Teigen, Associate Professor of Political Science, Ramapo College of New Jersey Video script: I don t think that political scientists who have actually done empirical work on the effect of gerrymandering have any consensus on the relationship between gerrymandering and the rise of incumbency strength in Congress and there s a few reasons, a few pieces of evidence that I think poke holes in the theory that gerrymandering has led to strong incumbency. The first thing is that incumbency has increased in statewide elections, too, so Senate incumbency has also grown also the same time span that critics are claiming that redistricting is responsible for the last 25 years of the increasing rate of incumbency protection through redistricting. Another couple clever political scientists looked at people who have been redistricted, who are the sort of victims of redistricting, the line moved across their home and so once they were in District 12, now they re in District 13 and in a funny paper entitled dude, where s my incumbent?, they found that these people are less likely to turn up for elections in general and so the redistricting process can do as much to you know disengage people, both in general and to their incumbent and the fact that statewide elections have also increased their incumbency protection numbers mean that gerrymandering might be a small part of the equation but it s not the only part of the equation for explaining why incumbency has grown in Congress. End of video.

5 Video: Karen O'Connor, Jonathan Helfant Professor of Political Science, School of Public Affairs, American University Video script: The role of safe seats in Congress is one that s really debatable. If you ask any member of Congress about safe seats, they re going to be really happy and wish that they themselves come from something that would be a safe seat, meaning that historically, someone of a particular political party will gather at least 55% of the vote in that district no matter if you run someone who no one s ever heard of, just because they re a Republican or Democrat and the district has been redone- redrawn in such a way that you know that you will have a situation where the person of a particular political party will win. That s not what the framers intended. The framers intended that members of Congress, particularly members obviously in the House of Representatives would be elected every two years, would be close to their citizens. People are no longer close to their representative. Most don t even know who their representative is, so we get a situation where because certain people don t have to worry about reelection, they don t really have to pay as much attention to the people in their district which is not a good thing for democracy. End of video. Activity: Check Your Understanding Covers congressional elections. Explains that incumbents typically have a major advantage over challengers because they are in a position to deliver tangible benefits to their constituents that challengers cannot. Defines primary elections: An election in which voters nominate a candidate for the general election. Also defines single-member district: An electoral system in which only one person is elected to represent the people living within one geographic district. Mentions that the number of congressional districts in a state is based on census data.

6 Additional Resources Websites Project Smart Vote This nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It offers in-depth information about current officials, candidates, issues, legislation, and voting. FairVote This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization provides research and analysis on redistricting and the outcomes of congressional elections. Congressional District Maps The website govtrack.us has a searchable map of all congressional districts in the United States. Incumbent Advantage Opensecrets.org tracks cumulative campaign funds raised by incumbents in both House and Senate races.