Essay Database

The re-election rates of members of Congress are very high because incumbents have enormous advantages over their challengers. Morris Fiorina, David Mayhew, Timothy Cook, Richard Fenno, and David Price are all political scientists who support this statement with their essays written on the topic. Morris Fiorina's essay entitled "The Rise of the Washington Establishment" provides some insight into the advantages that incumbents have over their opponents. He stated that out of all things a congressman …

…Congress and hurts the institution. But many do it and it is on the rise. This is still an advantage to incumbents even though it hurts Congress as a whole. In conclusion, incumbents have many important advantages over their challengers that allow them to hold their positions in office and get reelected time after time. Some of these advantages include pork-barreling, casework, credit claiming, position taking, use of the media, "congress-bashing", and presentation of self.