Those who seek elected office do not generally reflect the demographics of the general public: They are often disproportionately male, white, and more educated than the overall U.S. population.
Another factor for potential candidates is whether the seat they are considering is competitive or open. A
competitive seat describes a race where a challenger runs against the
incumbent —the current office holder. An
open seat is one whose incumbent is not running for reelection. Incumbents who run for reelection are very likely to win for a number of reasons, which are discussed later in this chapter. In fact, in the U.S. Congress, 95 percent of representatives and 82 percent of senators were reelected in 2014.
“Reelection Rates Over the Years,”https://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php (November 12, 2015).
But when an incumbent retires, the seat is open and more candidates will run for that seat.
Many potential candidates will also decline to run if their opponent has a lot of money in a campaign war chest.
War chests are campaign accounts registered with the Federal Election Commission, and candidates are allowed to keep earlier donations if they intend to run for office again. Incumbents and candidates trying to move from one office to another very often have money in their war chests. Those with early money are hard to beat because they have an easier time showing they are a viable candidate (one likely to win). They can woo potential donors, which brings in more donations and strengthens the campaign. A challenger who does not have money, name recognition, or another way to appear viable will have fewer campaign donations and will be less competitive against the incumbent.
Campaign finance laws
In the 2012 presidential election cycle, candidates for all parties raised a total of over $1.3 billion dollars for campaigns.
Congressional candidates running in the 2014 Senate elections raised $634 million, while candidates running for the House of Representatives raised $1.03 billion.
“2014 House and Senate Campaign Finance,” http://www.fec.gov/disclosurehs/hsnational.do;jsessionid=E14EDC00736EF23F31DC86C1C0320049.worker4 (November 12, 2015).
This, however, pales in comparison to the amounts raised by
political action committees (PACs) , which are organizations created to raise and spend money to influence politics and contribute to candidates’ campaigns. In the 2014 congressional elections, PACs raised over $1.7 billion to help candidates and political parties.
How does the government monitor the vast amounts of money that are now a part of the election process?
The history of campaign finance monitoring has its roots in a federal law written in 1867, which prohibited government employees from asking Naval Yard employees for donations.
Greg Scott and Gary Mullen, “Thirty Year Report,”
Federal Election Commission , September 2005, http://www.fec.gov/info/publications/30year.pdf.
In 1896, the Republican Party spent about $16 million overall, which includes William McKinley’s $6–7 million campaign expenses.
Jonathan Bernstein, “They Spent What on Presidential Campaigns?,”
Washington Post , 20 February, 2012.
This raised enough eyebrows that several key politicians, including Theodore Roosevelt, took note. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt pushed Congress to look for political corruption and influence in government and elections.
Jaime Fuller, “From George Washington to Shaun McCutcheon: A Brief-ish History of Campaign Finance Reform,”
Washington Post , 3 April 2014.
Shortly after, the
Tillman Act (1907) was passed by Congress, which prohibited corporations from contributing money to candidates running in federal elections. Other congressional acts followed, limiting how much money individuals could contribute to candidates, how candidates could spend contributions, and what information would be disclosed to the public.
Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925; Hatch Act of 1939; Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
OpenStax, American government. OpenStax CNX. Dec 05, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11995/1.15
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