Costas Panagopoulos - Congressional Challengers: Candidate Quality in Us Elections to Congress

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Congressional Challengers

In this book, Costas Panagopoulos examines patterns of candidate emergence in congressional elections over the past five decadesspecifically, the quality of challengers who seek to unseat U.S. House incumbents, as measured by prior political experience. Panagopoulos demonstrates that fewer and fewer experienced challengers have tossed their hats into the ring since the early 1970s. Inexperienced candidates often face electoral challengers that are difficult to overcome. Looking at factors including campaign spending, district-level partisan composition, and institutional reforms such as term limits, Panagopoulos evaluates explanations and consequences for these developments over time. He points to important implications for the study of congressional elections and democracy in the United States, including reforms in recruitment and candidate selection strategies to heighten electoral competition and ultimately, to enhance democratic representation in Congress. For students and scholars of the U.S. Congress and elections, this book addresses public concerns about representation as well.

Costas Panagopoulos is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Northeastern University.

Praise for Congressional Challengers

Congressional Challengers is a rigorous empirical analysis of the causes and characteristics of the decline in the supply of experienced challengers in congressional elections. It is a valuable and unique discussion of the decline of competitiveness and quality challengers in congressional elections and the consequences for Congress and our democracy.

James A. Thurber , American University

The study of congressional challenger quality has a long and rich history, and with good reason: challenger quality has been shown to be an important determinant of outcomes in congressional elections. Costas Panagopoulos has written an extraordinary book that makes an invaluable contribution to this rich scholarly literature. Panagopoulos traces patterns of challenger quality over time from 1972 to 2018, finding that there has been a decline in challenger quality in incumbent races (but not in open-seat races). He considers an impressive array of possible explanations for this pattern, finding that it is the increase in incumbent electoral strength in their home districts that has the dominant effect in discouraging high-quality candidates to challenge incumbents. This central finding has important normative implications for the health of our American republic. Congressional Challengers is an important, must-read book for those interested in congressional elections and, even more broadly, those interested in understanding the workings of our American democracy.

James C. Garand , Louisiana State University

It is difficult to overstate the importance of challenger quality to understanding the outcomes of U.S. legislative elections. Panagopoulos has significantly expanded our knowledge of this important feature of American politics with a careful and exhaustive analysis. The finding that challenger quality has declined over time, and that this is due to decreases in the competitiveness of races rather than increases in campaign costs, constitutes a major contribution, making this book a must read for anyone interested in elections, representation, and the overall health of American democracy.

Gregory Wawro , Columbia University

Costas Panagopoulos presents an important study of U.S. congressional elections. Panagopoulos shows that the quality of candidates that challenge congressional incumbents has declined since 1972. Using careful empirical analyses that incorporate different theoretical explanations, Panagopoulos demonstrates that this decline in challenger quality is explained by district competitiveness: As congressional districts more heavily favor one party or the other, high quality candidates choose not to challenge the incumbents of those districts, thus weakening a link in the chain of democratic representation. Congressional Challengers deserves the close attention of scholars of elections.

Jay Goodliffe , Brigham Young University

In this book, Costas Panagopoulos documents the decline from 1972 to 2018 in the supply of high-quality congressional challengers. What makes this book special and noteworthy is that it goes beyond the standard academic explanation that high-quality challengers are strategic actors who run for congressional office when incumbents are vulnerable. Panagopoulos makes a major contribution to the academic literature by presenting results that show there is more to this story, specifically that declines in competitiveness, defined as the share of the two-party vote earned by the incumbents party presidential candidate, are a major factor in understanding this development. These convincing and important new findings shed light on a subject of interest to anybody who studies or cares about congressional elections in the United States.

Peter L. Francia , East Carolina University

Congressional Challengers

Candidate Quality in U.S. Elections to Congress

Costas Panagopoulos

Cover image: Shutterstock

First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2022 Taylor & Francis

The right of Costas Panagopoulos to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Panagopoulos, Costas, author.
Title: Congressional challengers : candidate quality in U.S. elections to Congress / Costas Panagopoulos.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021034726 (print) | LCCN 2021034727 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138057876 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367754419 (paperback) | ISBN 9781315164649 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Political candidates--United States. | Political campaigns--United States. | United States. Congress. House--Elections. | Opposition (Political science)--United States. | Incumbency (Public officers)--United States.
Classification: LCC JK1976 .P323 2022 (print) | LCC JK1976 (ebook) | DDC 324.973/092--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034726
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034727

ISBN: 978-1-138-05787-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-75441-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16464-9 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315164649

Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

Contents

Dedication and Acknowledgements

I dedicate this book to my parentsGeorge (1943-2009) and Vasiliki Panagopoulos.

Even as the only formal educational training they earned in Greece was limited to elementary school, my parents instilled in me a deep appreciation for education and knowledge. Their sacrifices and their example are a daily inspiration, and I miss my father every day.

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