ABSTRACT
This chapter finds that Republican legislators who served districts where the opposition to impeachment was high suffered at the polls on election day. It also finds that legislators attempted to avert the negative repercussions of unpopular impeachment votes by raising extra campaign funds in the House. The chapter bases examination of the specific impact of challenger and incumbent fundraising on election outcomes in 2000. Senate challengers appear to have also reacted to the opportunity afforded them by the unpopularity of incumbents' impeachment votes by raising significantly more money themselves. Republican incumbents were sensitive to the potential for an electoral backlash engendered by the William Jefferson Clinton impeachment. The data show that incumbents who cast conviction votes consistent with the preferences of their constituents raised approximately $0.25 less per constituent than their colleagues who cast conviction votes that were not consistent with their constituents' preferences.
