Congressional Elections

Question 1

U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton

Answer 1

Term limits for senators or representatives cannot be more restrictive than what is stated by the Constitution

Question 2

How many total House members?

Answer 2

435

Question 3

How are Representatives allotted to each state?

Answer 3

Proportional to their share of the total U.S. population

Question 4

When was the Federal Election Campaign Act passed, what did it create, and what did it do?

Answer 4

1970

Federal Election Commission (FEC)

Required candidates to disclose where their money was coming from and where they were spending it, limited individual contributions, and provided for public financing of presidential campaigns.

Question 5

When was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) passed and what did it do?

Answer 5

2002, McCain and Feingold

Limit the use of soft money which is raised for purposes like party-building efforts, get out the vote efforts, and issue advocacy ads. Soft money had almost no regulations or limits.

Question 6

What is the incumbent advantage or incumbency effect?

Answer 6

The historical difficulty of unseating an incumbent in the House or Senate