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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Expanding Constituency Support Through Shared Local Roots In U.S. House Primaries, Charles Hunt
Expanding Constituency Support Through Shared Local Roots In U.S. House Primaries, Charles Hunt
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
This paper addresses the enduring connection of localism and place-based roots shared between many elected leaders and their constituents, which previous work has either ignored or improperly specified. I argue that representatives of the U.S. House with these roots—meaning authentic, lived experience in their districts prior to their officeholding—sustain more supportive constituencies in primary election stage. Using an original 7-point index of local biographical characteristics of incumbents seeking renomination from 2002 to 2018, I find that deeply-rooted incumbents are less than half as likely to receive a primary challenge, and on average perform more than 5 percentage points better in …
Beyond Partisanship: Outperforming The Party Label With Local Roots In Congressional Elections, Charles R. Hunt
Beyond Partisanship: Outperforming The Party Label With Local Roots In Congressional Elections, Charles R. Hunt
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
While factors like partisanship are increasingly decisive in congressional elections, they do not fully explain variation in constituency support between similarly situated incumbents. I argue that legislators’ reelection success is also influenced by the depth of their local, pre-Congress roots in the district they represent. I theorize that this local connection offers practical advantages to incumbents, such as built-in grassroots political infrastructure in their districts. Shared local identity also allows legislators to relate to their voters on a dimension that is uniquely suited to cross-cut partisanship and qualify them to represent their particular constituents. Therefore, I argue that local roots …