Congress and the
Election Process
NORPAC
You May Recall..

Members of
Congress meet each
year in Washington,
D.C.

Each Congress has a
two-year cycle
between elections, consisting of 2 sessions.
Elections to the 3 branches of
Government



Legislative – Every 2 years for the House of
Representatives and every 6
for the Senate
Executive – Every 4 years;
Cabinet appointed by the
President and confirmed by
the Senate
Judicial – No election;
appointed by the President
and confirmed by the Senate
Congressional Turnover: Past Six Years
(New Members of Congress)
45%
48%
SENATE
HOUSE
Shifting Population
+1
+1
-1
-1
+1
-1
-2
-1
-1
-2
-1
-1
+1
+1
+4
+1
-1
+2
Gained Seats
Lost Seats
Congressional Elections



How many times does a Congressional
candidate have to win an election to come
in to office?
(a) Once
(b) Twice
(c) Three Times
The Answer is..
Any of the above! (next slide)
Types of Election:
Primary



Primary Election – a candidate is chosen among other candidate(s) of the
same party and an election is held to determine who their party wants to
represent them.
A Primary may be held even if there is nobody running against a candidate in
their party.
Why would there be an election if there’s nobody running against someone?
 One reason is so that a write-in candidate can run against the name
formally written on the ballot
Types of Election:
General



General Election –
regardless of party,
everyone votes for the
candidate of their choice
in the General Election.
Whoever wins the
General Election is officially elected (or re-elected) and
gets sworn in to office in January.
UNLESS..
Types of Election:
Special/Runoff



Special/Runoff Election – when a clear majority is not determined,
or if the election is very close, a runoff or special election is held.
A special election is held just between the two closest candidates. This
final election will determine which person will assume office.
When else might a special election be held?
 If a Congressional office is vacated either by an early retirement or
death of a sitting Member, a special election is held to fill the seat
until the next election year.
Running for Office
What it Takes
Campaign Tactics



Candidates for office need to garner the most votes to win election
to office.
To do so, they must put together a campaign to get out the word
about their candidacy.
The office that collects money for a candidate and acts as their
public relations wing is called a Campaign Committee.
The First Step:
What Are the Issues?



Candidates must decide which issues they want
to put at the front of their campaign.
There are a whole bunch of issues in the United
States that candidates for office are concerned
about. Can you name a few?
What issues do you think are most important to
voters in the United States?
 Let’s see what recent polls say..
Most Important Issues for Voters
Most Important Issues for Voters

When asked about the most important issues facing our
nation, voters are overwhelmingly focused on the economy,
dissatisfaction with the government and health care.

Foreign policy issues
are not on most
voters’ minds, much
less the specific
issues affecting the
U.S.‐Israel relationship.
The Next Steps:
Publicity & Funding



Candidates need to let the public know where they stand on
the issues of importance to potential voters.
Since there are often hundreds of thousands of voters for
Congressional candidates, these public relations campaigns
can get very expensive.
What do you think candidates spend the money they raise on?
A Typical Campaign Spends
Money On..




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Advertising/Media Buys: TV, radio and
newspaper advertisements promoting a
candidate are often the most expensive part of a
campaign.
Consulting: Candidates hire consultants – or
sometimes staff – to strategize on the best ways
to promote their political campaign.
Rent/Utilities: Federal campaigns often
require large amounts of staff, so buildings and
utilities are required to be paid for to house all
these people.
Payrolls: Campaign staff, while largely
volunteer-driven, still contains many paid
employees running day-to-day ops.
Transportation: For the candidates and their
staff to get around, transportation costs are a
big part of any campaign budget.
Example from a Campaign
(This is not necessarily an average)
The Cost of a Campaign

How much do you think the average
House or Senate campaign costs?
Comparison:
Average Cost of Campaigns
Cost of Campaigns

The cost of congressional campaigns has skyrocketed over the
past two decades. On average, successful Senate candidates
now spend more than double what they spent in 1992, and
successful House candidates spend nearly 100 percent more
than they did 20 years ago.

These figures represent the average cost of a successful
campaign. In many of the larger and more expensive states,
congressional candidates have spent two or three times those
amounts to win.

This rate of “political inflation” demands that more
individuals get involved in pro-Israel politics.
Fundraising

To fund these extraordinarily expensive campaigns,
candidates need to look abroad for sponsors.

Did you know: By law, a candidate’s campaign can
receive only $2,600 per election, per cycle from an
individual. No matter how much money someone may
want to give, they are limited by this amount.

Where do candidates receive most of their funding
from?
Fundraising






Candidates receive most of their money from individuals solicited either by themselves
or by their staffers.
They also get funding from Political Action Committees (PACs), and indirectly from
Super PACs (more on these next month).
Each PAC can give a maximum of $5,000 to a candidate per election, per cycle.
A candidate may travel across the country to private fundraisers, or to events as large
as public dinners for thousands of supporters at a hotel or at convention centers.
Corporations may not contribute to a Federal candidate.
NORPAC is the largest pro-Israel PAC
giving money to federal candidates.
Thinking about campaigns
and fundraising




How would you run a political campaign? Where would you go
for funding? What issues would you put at the front of your
campaign?
Think about working as a staffer for a campaign committee.
How would you promote your candidate?
How do you think a PAC chooses the candidates it supports?
Many candidates receive very little of their overall political
fundraising through pro-Israel PACs. Why do you think Israel
remains such an important issue to Members of Congress?
NORPAC
America’s leading pro-Israel, non-partisan
Political Action Committee (PAC)
www.norpac.net