Mayhew's (1974) thesis regarding the “electoral connection� and its impact on legislative behavior has become the theoretical foundation for much of the research on the contemporary U.S. Congress. Recently, scholar To assess these claims more systematically, we consider four...

Previous research on congressional elections has largely concluded that House elections have become much less competitive in the modern era. Our research investigates one area where we should theoretically expect to observe more competition ﾖ namely, primary elections. In this paper, we...

Previous research on candidate competition in congressional elections has focused largely on the question of how much context matters in emergence decisions and election outcomes. If a candidate has previously held elected office, one additional consideration that may factor into entry decisions...

Changes in district boundaries in small magnitude electoral systems can have substantive consequences for representation. In the U.S., each decennial redistricting cycle infuses House districts with a large number of new voters, changing personal representation for many citizens. What effect...