Chapter 13 Part One Choosing the Congress

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Chapter 13Part OneChoosing the Congress
Instructor Kevin Sexton Course U.S. Political
Systems Southeast Missouri State University
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The Make Up OfThe U.S. Congress

• IN 1789
• Senate had 26 Members
• House of Representatives had 65 Members
• IN 2010
• Senate has 100 Members
• House of Representatives have 435 Members

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The Make Up OfThe U.S. Congress
Prior to 1913 ONLY members of the House of
Representatives were DIRECTLY elected. With
Passage of the 17th Amendment BOTH Senators and
Representatives are DIRECTLY elected.
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Requirements to be a member of Congress

• Senate
• At Least 30 years old
• 9 Years a Citizen of the U.S.
• Citizen of State to which elected to represent
• House of Representatives
• At Least 25 years old
• 7 Years a Citizen of the U.S.
• Citizen of State to which elected to represent

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Terms of Office

• Members of Senate elected for SIX year terms.
• With 1/3 of Senate being elected every two
  years.
• Members of the House of Representatives elected
  for TWO year terms.
• With 100 of House of Representatives being
• elected every two years.

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How are states represented in Congress?

• Each state has TWO Senators.
• Each state has at least one member of the House
  of Representatives.
• State with most members of the House
• California with 53
• States with fewest members of the House
• States have only one

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How Do We Decide How Many Representatives A State
Will Have?

• Each states representation in the House is based
  on the population of that state.
• In 1789 there was one representative for every
  30,000 citizens.
• Today the total number of members of the House
  is capped at 435. WHY?

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The Size of The House of RepresentativesIs
Capped at 435?
Originally, the size of the US House of
Representatives would increase by one member for
each 30,000 increase in population. This increase
in members would take place every ten years (US
Census). As the population Of the United States
started to grow rapidly it was Determined that
the size of the House of Representatives Should
be capped at 435.
The cap was approved as part of the
Reapportionment Act of 1929
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Why is the House of RepresentativesCapped at
435?
Consider this.
According to the US Census Bureau the current
population of the United States is 309,111,872.
(as of 4/21/10)
If we divide that by 30,000 you get
10,303.
Could you image having a House of Representatives
With 10,303 members?
Today we take the total population and divide it
by 435, and that determines how many people each
member of the House will represent.
approx. 710,602
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Reapportionment

• Repportionment
• Distributing the 435 seats among the 50 states.
• Completed every 10 years based on the information
  gathered by the US CENSUS.
• States could gain or lose seats based on
  population shifts within the United States.

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Reapportionment
California in 1850 2 Seats in House of Reps
California in 2000 53 Seats in House of Reps
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Reapportionment
New York in 1940 45 Seats in House of Reps
New York in 2000 29 Seats in House of Reps
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Redistricting

• After the reapportionment is complete, the STATES
  have to redraw the district lines within their
  states.
• District lines are re-drawn every ten years
  because the number of individuals a member of the
  House represents changes, and the population has
  shifted within the state.
• It is important to note that it is the STATES
  that re-draw the district lines, based on
  information given to them from the federal
  government (U.S. Census Bureau).

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Redistricting
According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures 21 of the 50 States develop
commissions to re-draw district lines. 29 of the
50 States allow the state legislature to re-draw
the district lines.
Regardless of which plan is used the two major
parties in that state (always the Democrats and
Republicans) will generally have almost complete
control over the process. The redistricting
processes used in the United States are another
reason that third parties have a hard time
gaining power in our political process/system.
To see an interesting interactive demonstration
of how redistricting can impact an election visit
http//www.redistrictinggame.org. This site
allows you to draw district lines and it
demonstrates how easily those districts can be
manipulated to benefit one group over another.
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Redistricting

• Drawing the district lines is a delicate process.
  If one party has complete control over drawing
  the lines they could draw district lines that
  give their party a huge advantage.
• This is done by drawing strangely shaped
  districts to put more of one party in a district.
  Known as GERRYMANDERING
• The next slide will show an example.

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Gerrymandering
Here is a fictional map of Missouri with 7
districts. Four Are Democratic and Three are
Republican. But inside Two of the republican
districts, there are big pockets of Democrats.
But the pockets do not have enough people To win
the district. If the Democrats could draw the
district Lines the way they wanted, they could
make one district That included both of those
pockets of Democrats. The Image below shows what
the district lines might look like if The
Democrats could draw the lines.
In this map the district lines have been drawn to
include Both pockets of Democrats into a single
district. This is Done so the Democrats can vote
together and get their Members elected. Before
the were separated and unable To get their member
elected in neither district. NOTICE there are
still only 5 districts, but the lines have
Changed.
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Affirmative Action Redistricting

• In 1982, amendments to the Voting Rights Act
  required the creation of MAJORITY-MINORITY
  DISTRICTS wherever possible.
• The creation of districts that are made up of
  mostly minorities. (GERRYMANDERING?)
• This was done to try and increase the number of
  minorities represented in Congress.

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Election Process
Primary Election Process that each party goes
through to decide which candidate will represent
their party in the general election. General
Election Process in which the candidate from
each party compete against each other. Winner of
this process wins the office.
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Congressional Elections

• Open Seat
• A Congressional election in which there
• is no INCUMBENT.
• Safe Seat
• A Congressional district that is certain to
  vote for the candidate of one party.

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Congressional Job Approval
As the image to the left demonstrates, Americans
do not usually have a high level of confidence in
or approval for the job being done by the U.S.
Congress.
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Congress As A Career
Prior to 1900 the average length of service of a
member of the House of Representatives was
less than 3 years. The picture was very similar
in the Senate. Today, things are much different.
Todays Congress is a PROFESSIONAL
LEGISLATURE, with most members staying in
office as long as they can. Sitting members of
Congress, INCUMBENTS, have a huge advantage
when it comes to getting re-elected.
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Running for Re-election

• When a member of Congress chooses to run for
  re-election, they win an overwhelming percent of
  the time.
• Since WWII approximatley 92 of all House of Rep.
  incumbents, that run for re-election, win
  re-election. Incumbent members of the Senate have
  won 78 of the time.
• Can we explain how/why this happens, especially
  in light of the information presented on the
  previous slide dealing with
• Congressional Job Approval.

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Congressional Job Approval Revisited.
As was demonstrated on a previous slide, the
American people put very little confidence in the
job that Congress as a whole is doing. But, when
we ask Americans how their individual member of
Congress is doing we find that most have a much
higher regard for the job THEIR MEMBER is
doing. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS SO?
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Advantages of Incumbency

• Constituency Service
• Media Coverage
• Campaign Funds
• Advantages of Office
• Franking
• Casework
• Experience or Voting History

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Why Do Senators Have A Harder Time Getting
Re-Elected

• Party Competition
• More Diverse District
• More Media Coverage
• Better Challengers
• Higher Ambitions of Candidates