ABSTRACT
The results of the 2006 elections marked the end of 12 years of Republican control of the House of Representatives, and almost as long in control of the U.S. Senate. Congressional elections that take place in years when there is no presidential contest—they are often referred to as “midterm elections” because they occur hal fway through a president’s four-year term—provide the opportunity to study the push and pull of national and local factors at work on voters. U.S. House elections necessarily involve a mix of national policy and partisan concerns, combined with the variation one finds across 435 districts of vastly different geographical size and demographic makeup. While local concerns and the politics of the district are often important in explaining House elections, the simple fact that candidates affiliate with the Democratic or Republican party in virtually every district can shift attention away from local interests to concerns that resonate in similar ways across all district races. Our focus in this chapter is on how the decisions by candidates to run reflects and shapes the forces at work in district races, and how these factors ultimately play out in the decisions voters make on Election Day.
