Seating Congress persons have the upper hand in winning the next elections, and therefore, the probability of retaining their office is high. There are two major reasons that play a great role in helping Congress members stay in office longer, and they include incumbency and gerrymandering.
Incumbency can be defined as the period in which an individual has held an office. In politics, it very rare for an incumbent to serve only for a single term, and therefore, an incumbent has a political advantage over the opponents during elections. In most cases, the incumbents determine the date of elections, and this provides them with an upper hand since they have enough time to prepare for the elections. However, there are times which the incumbents may not enjoy such privileges, especially when the timing of elections is determined by legislation or constitution, which denies the members of Congress the right to determine the dates of elections. However, when they do, they dictate the terms that only they are capable of winning, making them serve long in positions of power.
Another reason why incumbency helps members of Congress in staying longer in the office is that they have higher name recognition, and this is due to their previous work in the office. Since members of Congress are political leaders, they tend to entice citizens into voting them in by making the last-minute developments, especially those that touch on their lives. Based on this, the citizens are blinded and re-elect them back to Congress. In addition, members of Congress have easier access to campaign resources such as finance and other government resources, which can be indirectly used to boost the incumbent’s re-election campaigns. Money is one of the critical resources that are needed during an election, and this is because campaigns require a lot of budgeting; having no access to financial resources can be a highway to the downfall as it is impossible to traverse around the state, convincing people to vote for them. Based on this, members of Congress are therefore highly advantaged when it comes to access to campaign resources.
The other reason that helps members of Congress to stay in office for long is gerrymandering. It is a practice that is intended to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular individual or political party. Gerrymandering can be achieved by manipulating district boundaries. There are two principal tactics that are used in gerrymandering, and they include cracking and packing. Cracking refers to diluting the voting power of the opposing candidate’s supporters across the district. On the other hand, packing involves concentrating the opposing candidate’s voting power in one district so that their voting power in other districts is greatly reduced.
In addition, hijacking can also be used to impact the elections, and this is achieved through redrawing two districts in such a way that forces two incumbents to run against each other in one district, and this ensures that one of them will be eliminated. Another method of gerrymandering is kidnapping, which involves moving an incumbent’s home address into another district, but this often favors politicians who represent multiple urban areas.
Gerrymandering results in the wasted vote effect, and this makes it effective in helping a member of the Congress stay longer in office. Gerrymandering of state legislative districts can effectively guarantee an incumbent’s victory, and this can be achieved by shoring up a district with higher levels of partisan support without disproportionately benefiting a particular party. Furthermore, gerrymandering can affect the cost of campaign elections. For example, if a district is stretched out, candidates may be required to pay increased costs for transportation traversing across the district. Based on this, financial resources become a matter of great significance, and this favors the incumbent as they have access to financial resources that helps them secure a seat in Congress.