Why Why Congressional Congressional Incumbents Incumbents WinWin

By: Jamie Tunkel, Laurie Rabin & Nicole Saglamer

What the hell is a congressional incumbent? • An incumbent is the person who is already holding the political office.

• For example Nita Lowey is a NY House of Representatives incumbent

(and Laurie’s Grandma’s cousin).

• She was reelected in 2008 for her eleventh term.

Laurie’s Grandma’s Cousin

Hmm…Grandma’s Cousin- Why do incumbents win?

Well, Laurie, the number one reason that incumbents usually win, especially in the House of

Representatives (but also in the Senate) is because of

NAME RECOGNITION.

In the House of Representatives the non-incumbent is usually a little known candidate. They have typically come from a

small local government position and therefore, the public is

unaware of who they are or how they stand on certain issues.

The incumbent’s name has been in the media so people are

familiar with the incumbent. Without any effort, the general

public knows the candidate.

Also, the incumbent has a PUBLIC VOTING RECORD.

Both Senators and Representatives have a

public voting record. This means that the public can easily access information

regarding where the incumbent stands on political issues. A voter is able to tell if the incumbent does what

he/she says they will do. The non-incumbent may make

promises that the public does not know if they can or will

keep.

Incumbents also have the benefit of the

FRANKING PRIVILEGE.

The Franking Privilege allows the incumbent to send out flyers about their reelection which are

paid for by the federal government (taxes). This is a

great advantage because in this way, the incumbent can

advertise and campaign without spending as much money as the non-incumbent needs to spend.

The incumbent also has an advantage when it comes to

FUNDRAISING.

Incumbents have the ability to fundraise for a longer time

than non-incumbents because they can fundraise in office. Also, incumbents

have the advantage of attracting funds from

interest groups that they have supported while in

office.

Because there are only two Senators per state, they are

very visible to their state. They can put their name on

legislation so they can tell their incumbents that they were a

crucial part of the law-making process for laws that they feel their incumbents will support. Also, if they were able to get money appropriated for their state through earmarks, their constituents are more likely to

vote for them again.

Specifically for Senators, the advantage of an incumbent

is that he/she is very

VISIBLE.

The final reason that incumbents usually win is if the country is PROSPERING.

People are more likely to reelect an incumbent if they are personally happy with the state of the country.

• In 2008 in Georgia all 11 incumbent congressmen in contested elections won easy victories.

• Two incumbents, Republican John Linder and Tom Price (H.O.R), won with little effort.

• They skipped debates, ignored attack ads that Democratic challengers put on television and spent little from their large campaign accounts, yet they still won reelection because they were incumbents.

• Scandal

• Part of the party that a newly elected president is a member of

• The non-incumbent has a big name or a big story

• The country is not prospering

For Example…

•Carolyn McCarthy had very little political experience.

• In 1993, Colin Ferguson shot and killed her husband Dennis.

• In 1996, McCarthy ran on the Democratic ticket for a position in Congress on the single platform of gun control.

• She beat out an incumbent despite her lack of political experience because she had been in public eye due to the tragedy she had endured.