Apart from presidential elections, there are also congressional ones, and although they do not receive as much attention from the wider public, they remain extremely important. Congressional elections and their results directly influence the policies adopted by the government and affect the lives of all citizens of the country. Therefore, it is crucial to explore candidates’ motivations to run for congressional office and determine the impact of the elections on Congress itself.
When a person decides to run for any type of office, they have a strong motivation to do it, which can be based on several reasons. The first and the most common reason why people decide to run for office is the desire to assist the community they live in or somehow belong to. Since congresspeople represent their constituencies, they have the power to propose and adopt policies that can solve local problems (Herrnson et al., 2019). As a result, if they have ideas about how to solve the issues of their state, people will run for office to try to pass legislation that will implement positive changes. Another factor that influences a candidate’s initial decision to run for office is the willingness to advance a certain global cause they believe in. For instance, candidates may be interested in advocating for adopting legislation to prevent climate change or ensuring racial and gender diversity in governmental institutions.
Elections, in their turn, have a considerable influence on the actions of Congress and the policies it adopts. First, the elections help decide which party will have the majority in the two chambers of Congress. When one party has the majority in both chambers of Congress, it finds it much easier to propose and adopt bills consistent with its agenda. Thus, congressional elections directly influence the agenda and the type of bills produced by Congress for the next two years (Jacobson & Carson, 2019). Another type of influence of the elections on Congress’ actions is the candidates chosen by the voters. In every party, there are factions that have their own agendas differing from those of other factions. Thus, the actions of Congress also depend on which factions will be voted into office by citizens. Thus, elections play a major role in influencing the bills which Congress will work on in the future.
Elections themselves are influenced by a myriad of factors, some of which can be extremely crucial. For instance, voter turnout is one of the main components of every election because the more people vote for a certain candidate, the more likely they are to win. As a result, when a party or candidate faces a low voter turnout, they become likely to fail the election campaign and get the result they need. Residential elections also impact congressional ones since voters are likely to vote for the candidate who belongs to the same party as the President if the latter’s actions are approved by the majority of citizens. Thus, candidates of one of the parties can have an advantage in such situations. Finally, campaign finance is also important since candidates with large campaign funds can target more people and conduct their campaigns more effectively (Stonecash, 2019). Thus, elections and their results are shaped by a variety of factors of different levels of significance.
Congressional elections constitute one of the key elements of the political system of the United States and have a vital role in society. People choose to run for office because they wish to bring benefit to their community or advocate for causes they deem important. Elections and their results also directly affect the actions of Congress and the type of bills proposed by its members. Elections are influenced by numerous factors, including candidates’ campaign finance and voter turnout.
References
Herrnson, P., Panagopoulos, C., &, Bailey, K. (2019). Congressional elections: Campaigning at home and in Washington. CQ Press.
Jacobson, G., & Carson, J. (2019). The politics of congressional elections. Rowman & Littlefield.
Stonecash, J. (2019). Interpreting congressional elections: The curious case of the incumbency effect. Routledge.