Special Elections The Backdoor Entrance to Congress

Most members of Congress begin their careers through regularly scheduled elections, but terms may be cut short due to death, scandal, or different career opportunities. In these cases, special elections are held to fill vacancies. In fact, a number of prominent political figures, including Lyndon Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, and John Dingell, began their long and distinguished careers through special election to Congress. While the media often look to special elections as a way of measuring public sentiment on presidential performance, even though voter turnout tends to be significantly lower than in regular elections, these events have rarely attracted academic attention. Oftentimes, studies of these contests lead to generalizations about how a party should proceed if it hopes to wrest a seat away from the opposition in a special election. This book is the first large-scale scholarly treatment of special elections: both in terms of explaining what factors influence outcomes and in determining whether special elections are bellwethers for general elections. Charles S. Bullock, III and Karen L. Owen argue that special elections offer parties a testing ground for messaging and strategies for mobilizing voters in anticipation of general elections. Moreover, these elections provide opportunities for diversification of Congress as reduced commitment to resources for campaigning has led more women and candidates of color to compete in them—and win. Based on 75 years of data, the authors closely examine several competitive special elections during the first two years of the Trump era and quantitatively assess the almost 300 House special elections held since World War II.

Charles S. Bullock, III, is Distinguished University Professor of Public and International Affairs, the Richard B. Russell Professor of Political Science, and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Georgia. Bullock is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 30 books and more than 250 articles and book chapters. Among his books are Redistricting: The Most Political Activity in America, Georgia's Three Governors Controversy, and The South and the Transformation of U.S. Politics. He is past president of the Southern Political Science Association. Karen L. Owen is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Thomas B. Murphy Center for Public Service at the University of West Georgia. She is a gender politics and American institutions scholar. Owen is also the author of Women Officeholders and the Role Models who Pioneered the Way as well as numerous articles on congressional elections, state legislative partisanship, and women serving within local levels of government and trial courts.