4.2 - Politics of Congressional Elections

Constituencies

bodies of voters in an area who elect a representative or senator (state or district, is a great source of controversy!!!)

1842 Apportionment Act

mandated that ONE member of house be elected per district

2 senators

how many senators per state? (elected at different times!)

Apportionment

the process of determining the number of representatives per state (based on districts)

Redistricting

state legislatures’ redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census

census

when population is measured every 10 years

Gerrymandering

intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest group or groups of voters

Elbridge Gerry

drew lines to benefit his governor campaign, looked like salamander (Gerry + Salamander)

Partisan Gerrymandering

drawing into stranger shapes to benefit a political party (concentrates opposing party into small districts, leaving more districts for their party)

polarized congress

partisan gerrymandering leads to _________ (representatives with very different ideologies)

Racial and Ethnic Gerrymandering

aims to increase the likelihood of electing minorities as representatives by concentrating minorities into congressional districts (also isolates/ bubble effect)

Majority-Minority Districts

when a majority of the population in a district are a minority voter

Carol Swain

Political scientist who argues racial gerrymandering does not actually lead to improvements wanted by minorities (just bc minorities sin congress = not enough to pass stuff)

Barker v Carr (1962)

court case in which a republican challenged Tennessee’s district boundaries because some had 10x more people than others (supreme court then required each district to have about the same population)

one person one vote principle

each district about same population; this principle was used in Gray v Sanders and Reynolds v Sims case

Malapportionment

when the population is uneven in districts (unconstitutional bc violates Equal Protection Clause, 14th amendment)

Shaw v Reno (1993)

when court rejected NC reapportionment bc was used to indirectly segregate voters (gave states ability to consider race in drawling lines)

Incumbency

running for reelection as opposed to for the first time (usually win)

Incumbency Advantage

incumbents have more media, benefit record, donor network, and name recognition which helps them win

House

The Incumbency is greater in ____ bc shorter terms = remembered better by people

Safe districts

districts in which an incumbents’ party dominates (will probably be supported here)

why incumbent may lose

scandal, poor economics, redistricted out of former district and need to start again

Experience and Money

candidates need ________ to be sucessful in elections