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Gary Jacobson suggests, "From the 1950s through the 1980s, the electoral
importance of individual candidates and campaigns expanded, while that of party labels
and national issues diminished.” 16 Although scholars have debated the empirical
measurements of the incumbency factor, they all seem to agree that "the emergence of
a more candidate-centered electoral process helped one class of congressional
candidates to prosper: the incumbent officeholder." 17 To be sure, the incumbency
advantage offers significant electoral dividends.
Figures 1
Source: https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/reelect.php
Figure 1 reveals that members of Congress are more likely to get reelected. What is it
about the incumbency advantage that yields such powerful electoral benefits? One of
the classic explanations suggests that the institutional characteristics of Congress breed
an environment in which incumbents use resources to serve their election objectives. In
expressing his sentiments about the institution of Congress, David Mayhew contends,
"If a group of planners sat down and tried to design a pair of American assemblies with
the goal of serving members’ reelection needs year in and year out, they would be
16
Gary Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections (New York: Longman
Publishing, 2009), 27.
17
Ibid, 27