The Advantages of Incumbency

The re-election rates in Congress are overwhelmingly favored to the incumbents of Congress. People who are running for re-election holds many advantages to winning opposed to whomever the challenger is running against them. Many authors and political science scholars support this theory including such people as Richard Fenno, Morris Fiorina, David Mayhew, and Timothy Cook. Richard Fenno explains some of the advantages an incumbent may have over any challenger in his article entitled Home Style. …

…not buy air time they still have been in office for some years and will be better known to the people than the challenger. Incumbents use the media to their advantage in office and for campaigning. They use the media to connect with the people to show the great things they have done. Also during an election it is easier for the incumbent to get more TV time and be better known than their challenger.