The Effect of Electoral Competitiveness on Ideological Voting Patterns in the U.S. House, 2002‐10

This research examines the 2002‐10 U . S . House elections, using cross‐sectional time series analysis to test the relationship between the closeness of elections, district partisanship, and the subsequent ideological stances of winning candidates in Congress. Using the Poole and Rosenthal DW ‐nominate scores, the Cook Partisan Voter Index, and the election results, we find evidence that the more competitive the race, the more moderate is the voting record of the winning candidate in the next session of Congress. We also find the same effect with regard to the heterogeneity of the partisan balance in the district.