Congress and the people 389Many House and Senate candidates distance themselves from the national party.
For example, in a 2018 House race in suburban Philadelphia, Republican nominee
Dan David was asked if he wanted President Trump to campaign for him and he
replied, “I would like the president to do his job and I’ll do mine.”^19 (He lost by nearly
27 points.) However, there are nationalized “wave” elections in which national issues
can overwhelm incumbents’ attempts to insulate themselves. In 2006, many House
Republicans tried to distance themselves from President Bush and the unpopular
war in Iraq, but more than 20 Republicans were defeated and Democrats regained
control of the House. In the 2010 midterms, the same thing happened to moderate
Democrats, who were ousted by voters who believed the government had gone too
far in its response to the recession and providing access to health care. These national
forces led the Democrats to lose 63 House seats (and 6 Senate seats), with the result that
the Republicans regained control of the House.
National forces in congressional elections also may be evident in presidential years. In
2008, Republicans faced a backlash against Bush, whose approval ratings had hit record
lows. Republican members of Congress avoided being seen with him, and Democrats
highlighted their opponents’ earlier support for the president. In 2012, the congressional
elections ratified the status quo; despite Obama’s solid win, the Republicans retained
control of the House and the Democrats increased their majority in the Senate only
slightly. The 2016 presidential election featured two nominees, Hillary Clinton
and Donald Trump, who had the highest negative ratings of any pair of major-party
candidates. Republican congressional candidates were especially likely to distance
themselves from their party’s nominee. Overall, the localized nature of congressional
elections and the incumbency advantage promote congressional stability in the face of
presidential change. This dynamic has profound implications for governance because it
increases the likelihood that different parties will control the presidency and Congress.
Divided government complicates accountability. Because the president and Congress
have become adept at blaming each other when things go wrong, voters do not always
know who to vote out of office when they’re unhappy with the status quo.Redistricting Connects Representation and Elections
The shape and makeup of congressional districts are critical to understanding
representation in Congress and the electoral connection. District boundaries
determine who is eligible to vote in any given congressional race, and these boundaries
are re-drawn every 10 years, after each national census. Redistricting is usually the
task of state legislatures. Its official purpose is to ensure that districts are roughly equal
in population, which in turn ensures that every vote counts equally in determining the
composition of the legislature.
District populations vary over time as people move from state to state or from one
part of a state to another. At the national level, states gain or lose legislative seats
after each census through apportionment, which is the process of dividing the fixed
number of House seats (435) among the states based on increases and decreases in state
populations. Thus, states growing the fastest gain seats, and states that are not growing
as fast or that are losing population lose seats (for example, after the 2010 census Texas
gained four seats in Congress while Ohio lost two). The one legislature in America that
is not redistricted is the U.S. Senate, which has two legislators elected per state. Voters
in small states thus have proportionally more influence than those in large states when
it comes to the Senate.redistricting
Re-drawing the geographic
boundaries of legislative districts.
This happens every 10 years to ensure
that districts remain roughly equal in
population.apportionment
The process of assigning the 435
seats in the House to the states based
on increases or decreases in state
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