page_title: U.S. Congress and citizens
section_title: Challenges of reelection
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Congress and citizens / Challenges of reelection
caption_attribution_description: Bayh delivers his campaign stump speech on December 10, 2006
context_page_description: United States Congress and citizens describes the relation between the public and lawmakers. Essentially, American citizens elect members of Congress every two years who have the duty to represent their interests in the national legislature of the United States.
  All congressional officials try to serve two distinct purposes which sometimes overlap––representing their constituents and making laws for the nation. There has been debate throughout American history about how to straddle these dual obligations of representing the wishes of citizens while at the same time trying to keep mindful of the needs of the entire nation. Often, compromise is required.
context_section_description: Every two years a congressperson faces reelection, and as a result there is a strong tendency for a congressperson seeking reelection to focus their publicity efforts at their home districts. Running for re-election can be a grueling process of distant travel, fund-raising, which prevents representatives from paying attention to governing, according to some critics. University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, author of A More Perfect Constitution, proposed an amendment to organize primaries to prevent a "frontloaded calendar" long before the election to prevent a "race by states to the front of the primary pack," which subverts the national interest, in his view. After each ten year census, states are allocated representatives based on population, and states can choose how to draw the congressional district boundaries. A law in 1967 abolished all at-large elections (when representatives are chosen by voters in the entire state rather than an electoral district) except in less populous states entitled to only one Representative.
  Nevertheless, congresspersons in office, or incumbents, have strong advantages over challengers. One reporter noted "nearly all incumbents raise far more (money) than do their challengers," which brings a huge advantage to incumbents. Incumbents get the majority of PAC money according to the logic that "PACs give most of their money to incumbents because they are more likely to win; incumbents win largely because PACs heavily finance them." There is consensus among political analysts that money is important for winning elections. "Election to Congress ... is therefore like getting life tenure at a university," wrote one critic. In 1986, of 469 House and Senate elections, only 12 challengers succeeded in defeating incumbents. Most challengers are at a huge disadvantage in terms of fundraising.
  Advantages which incumbents enjoy over challengers, and which have been a source of criticism and controversy, are access to campaign contributions as well as gerrymandering which give incumbents an unfair advantage, according to some critics. As a result, re-election rates of members of Congress seeking repeated terms hovers around 90% according to many sources. Sometimes members of Congress are seen as a "privileged class" with cozy relations with lobbyists and free use of official resources. Academics such as Princeton's Stephen Macedo have proposed solutions to fix gerrymandering. Campaign costs have risen steadily over time. In 1971, the cost of running for congress in Utah was $70,000. Since then, campaign costs have climbed. The biggest campaign expense is television ads, although campaign staff and materials are expensive too. By 1986, the average Senate race cost $3 million; average House races cost $350,000. By 1994, the cost to run for a congressional seat was about $500,000 on average; in 2004, a decade later, the cost was significantly higher. "Largely because of the ever-increasing cost of television advertising, the average price tag for waging a winning campaign is likely to zoom past the million-dollar mark this year for the first time, analysts say," according to one report. Money plays a huge role in congressional elections. Since fundraising is vital, "members of Congress are forced to spend ever-increasing hours raising money for their re-election" and "campaign costs continue to skyrocket." Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has treated campaign contributions as a free speech issue. Some see money as a good influence in politics since it "enables candidates to communicate with voters and parties to organize efforts to get out the vote." In the 2008 election, spending for all campaigns (including presidential) approached $2 billion in early 2008. Few members retire from Congress without complaining about how much it costs to campaign for reelection. Further, after being reelected, congresspersons are more likely to attend to the needs of heavy campaign contributors than to ordinary citizens. Some political scientists speculate there is a coattail effect when a popular president or party p
caption: Candidate Evan Bayh speaking to voters in a reelection bid in 2006.
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