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Who Wins Congressional Seats

Who Wins Congressional Seats. Campaign Dynamics and Incumbency Advantage. Basics. Like w/ Presidential elections . . . Primary first Then general election Campaigns!. Every 2 years Discrete district Weaker challengers . Every 6 years Whole state Stronger challengers.

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Who Wins Congressional Seats

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  1. Who Wins Congressional Seats Campaign Dynamics and Incumbency Advantage

  2. Basics • Like w/ Presidential elections . . . • Primary first • Then general election • Campaigns!

  3. Every 2 years Discrete district Weaker challengers Every 6 years Whole state Stronger challengers House v. Senate Elections

  4. Professional Legislature • Professional legislature • In part, due to responsiveness to constituency • Who is constituency?

  5. House of Representatives • 435 House Seats • Allocated to each state based on population • Minimum of 1 per state • Reapportionment: the process of dividing up the house seats by population after every census

  6. Redistricting • Drawing boundaries of congressional districts • Must be of equal population (based on census figures) – Baker v. Carr • Who does it?

  7. Gerrymandering

  8. Gerrymandering • Political – o.k. • Racial – not o.k.

  9. Gerrymandering • Cracking • Packing

  10. The Changing Landscape of Campaigns • Shift to more high-tech methods of campaigning • Capital-intensive • Campaigns increasingly professionalized • Changes in technology • Decline of party strength and partisanship • All this affects who wins . . .

  11. Candidate Competition:How Voters Decide • Partisan Loyalty • Incumbency Advantage • Representative behavior • Constituency Service • Pork • Casework • Responsiveness • Member resources • Staff / field offices • Frank • Money

  12. National Dynamics • Coattail Effect • Has declined, more split ticket voting • Party Unity / Polarization • Issue Advocacy • 527s

  13. Representation • Substantive • Descriptive • Do we care about achieving descriptive representation?

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