Parties on the Ground: A Study of Nominations for the House of Representatives

Description:

A close-up examination of the roots of congressional politics in nominations for the House of Representatives.

With most House seats all but guaranteed for one party in general elections, primary elections for party nominees often decide who goes to Congress. Yet primaries are notoriously difficult to study, due in part to both the variety of rules that govern them and the differences in the influence of local leaders. Based on wide-ranging evidence from field interviews to fundraising data to exit polls, Parties on the Ground overcomes these challenges to take readers under the hood for an in-depth look at the nomination process.

Although progressive reformers sought the adoption of primaries to empower voters' control over nominations, Parties on the Ground finds that most voters pay too little attention to make use of the opportunity. Instead, the most important actors are intense policy demanders--such as interest groups and activist organizations--who supply campaign resources to some candidates and deny them to others. These groups care most about securing an agent for their own interests and values; to this end, they put serious effort into vetting candidates and often coordinate among themselves or with local parties in support of their choices. At the same time, competition between establishment and insurgent groups can be high, especially in the Republican Party. Developing a nuanced account of House nominations in today's parties, Parties on the Ground offers a host of new insights into this understudied but significant piece of the puzzle of American politics.

Brief description:

Kathleen Bawn is professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Review Quotes:

"Parties on the Ground will change the way people think about American elections. Using rich qualitative data from hundreds of in-depth interviews, this book reveals that long before voters choose from the candidates on the ballot, interest groups and party leaders jostle over who those candidates will be. These highly local political processes are mostly invisible to voters but are an important, understudied part of American democracy."