EXAMPLE PAGE - SCHOOL BROCHURE - DEMOCRACY - Flipbook - Page 36
INSIDE AN ELECTION
THE POLITICAL MACHINE
Incumbency, term limits, and the hurdles — and opportunities — facing
challengers in the shifting world of American politics
Since Barack Obama upset Hillary Clinton to secure
the nomination for president in 2008, the American political landscape has seemed increasingly volatile. Not just in
the back-and-forth tug-of-war that is right vs. left politics.
But also within the parties. Midterms under Barack Obama
saw Tea Party candidates turn the table on the Republican establishment, ousting more moderate opponents, and
coalescing in Congress in the powerful Freedom Caucus —
a bloc of Republican representatives that frequently determined what legislation passed and what didn’t.
Then came the progressive revolution that Bernie Sanders ignited after his strong second-place showing in 2016,
inspiring others to challenge the status quo of the Democratic Party. The result: a partywide upheaval that saw longtime incumbents in the House of Representatives ousted
in 2018 and 2020. Perhaps the biggest upset of all belongs
to Donald Trump. Faced with the headwinds of a political party that worked at every step to resist his campaign,
Trump was able to channel voters’ resentment at feeling
34 PUR D U E A LUMNUS
ignored and shut out of the process.
“In the last 10 to 20 years, we’ve seen a shift,” observes
Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, associate professor of political science. “In the Republican Party, there is a kind of
skepticism about having served previously in office. Candidates pitch themselves based on their experience in
the private sector and wanting to run the government
like a business. Incumbents’ time in office is now being
presented as a liability.”
On the other hand, if we look at candidates running on
the left, there is less a distrust of incumbency than an impatience. And this can result in party activists and leadership
butting heads.
“For someone to run against a sitting legislator, they’re
actually going against the local party apparatus,” explains
Sinclair-Chapman. “If they can convince voters that
there’s something they can contribute that voters can’t
find with the sitting legislator, the outsider status can
work in their favor.”