Against Long Odds: Citizens Who Challenge Congressional Incumbents

While many books detail how senators and representatives operate in Washington, this one describes how they stay in power. The congressional elections of 1998 were the most expensive in history. Incumbency reelection rates were 98.3 percent in the House and 89.7 percent in the Senate, and this was a typical outcome after Watergate—era campaign reforms supposedly reduced the influence of money in politics. From the unique vantage of credible citizen—candidates who ran against congressional i...