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American Politics Research, Vol. 34, No. 2, 135-158 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X05284413

Ideology, Electoral Incentives, and Congressional Politics

The Republican House Class of 1994

Michael H. Crespin

Suzanne M. Gold

Michigan State University, East Lansing

David W. Rohde

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Following the work of Downs and Mayhew, some theories of legislative politics assume that candidates are motivated only by electoral interests and their behavior is driven by the median voter in their district. Other theories, however, posit that legislator behavior is driven by additional factors such as member's policy interests or those of the primary constituency. It is our theoretical expectation that Downs was not incorrect but rather incomplete. In this article, we classify the Republican freshman representatives elected in 1994 according to these different motives and conclude that different motives are related to systematic differences in behavior. We observe pressure from the district median, and the representatives' primary electorate and personal ideological commitments exert a significant and independent effect on the positions taken by representatives. Our results indicate that members are influenced by factors outside of their district median.

Key Words: 104th Congress • 1994 freshman class • Republican revolution • constituency • political ideology


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J. L. Carson, M. H. Crespin, C. J. Finocchiaro, and D. W. Rohde
Redistricting and Party Polarization in the U.S. House of Representatives
American Politics Research, November 1, 2007; 35(6): 878 - 904.
[Abstract] [PDF]