us elections and campaign finance

• Elected institutions in the USA, frequency and maximum term

  • Federal level:

  Presidential elections (the executive) - Every 4 years for a maximum of two terms (8 years), or if a vice president has replaced a president over half-way through their term, they are restricted to 10 years maximum

  Congressional elections (the legislature; which has two houses)

  Senate elections - One third of the senators are up for election every 2 years, serving a 6 year term

  House of Representatives - All Representatives are up for election every 2 years, serving a 2 year term

  State level:

  Gubernatorial elections (i.e. elections for the post of governor; state executive) - Frequency and term lengths/limits vary per state (D.C. has a mayor)

  State legislatures (mostly bicameral but chambers and names vary) - Frequency and term lengths/limits vary per state

  Some additional state-wide elections (e.g. lieutenant [deputy] governor)

  Local level:

  Local elections (e.g. mayor, sheriff)
• Constitutional requirements to hold the office of president

  • Natural-born citizen
  • At least 35 years old
  • US resident for at least 14 years
  • Cannot have served two full terms already
• Invisible primary


  Period before the official primaries in which potential candidates aim to establish political and financial support to build momentum for their campaign
• Types of primaries


  • Invisible primary
  • Primaries (state-wide elections in polling stations for a party's candidate for president)
  • Closed primary (only those registered with that party can vote)
  • Semi-closed primary (only those registered with the party and independents can vote)
  • Open primary (any registered voters can vote, even those registered with opposing parties)
  • Caucus (voting occurs at certain public meeting places and times often involving a debate and voting by walking to join particular groups)
• There is no provision for the primary process in the constitution itself and so the procedure and timing is left open to the different parties and states
• Delegate allocation systems in Republican primaries

  • Winner-takes-all (the candidate who received the most votes gets all of the state delegates)
  • Proportional (the number of delegates you get is determined by the share of the vote you receive, with a minimum percentage that must be achieved to gain any delegates at all; usually 10-15%)
  • Hybrid or 'winner-takes-all trigger' (delegates are allocated proportionally unless there is a runaway winner (typically over 50% of the vote) and then they are awarded all of the delegates)
• Democrat primaries are entirely proportional with no 'winner-takes-all'
• To ultimately win the Republican or Democratic candidacy for president you must get a majority of delegates
• Super Tuesday


  The most significant date in the primary calendar as more delegates can be won on this day than any other and it represents a test of a candidate's wider, national electability
• A trend has developed where states have tried to make their primaries as early in the primary calendar as possible because the earlier primaries have greater influence over the candidate selection process
• In the 2020 Republican primaries some states including Kansas and Alaska did not hold primaries at all and Trump, as the incumbent president, managed to get 94% of the vote, losing only 1 delegate, as states were encouraged to switch to 'winner-takes-all' systems
• In 1976 with Ford and 1980 with Carter, although both were just about able to get a majority of support in the primaries, they went on to lose the presidential election having been fundamentally weakened by party division and criticism in the primaries
• Advantages of the primaries process

  • Raises key issues before the general election
  • Exposes divides in the party
  • Another opportunity for participation and education
• Disadvantages of the primaries process

  • Low turnout
  • Imbalance in voting power across states
  • The process is too long and expensive
• The total turnout for the Democrat and Republican primaries in 2016 was 29% whereas the general election was 56%
• The 2016 Democrat caucus in Wyoming attracted a measly 1.6% turnout
• Some voters have more voting power than others because their state votes early while it's still 'all to play for' or their state uses open primaries, allowing the voter to choose which party's contest to vote in
• The invisible primary combined with frontloading have made US elections an increasingly long process. For the 2016 election Ted Cruz announced his intention to contest the Republican candidacy a whole 11 months before the 1st primary and nearly 600 days before the election day for President
• Joe Biden raised and spent over $100m in the run up to the 2020 Democratic primaries
• Primaries


  Present a greater range of candidates to voters than the presidential general election
• 2016 featured 22 candidates across the 2 parties (17 Republicans and 5 Democrats) as opposed to the eventual choice between the 2 winners
• Reforms to the primaries from 1972


  The opinion expressed by the voters has been more closely listened to by the party leaders
• The process is too long and expensive
• The invisible primary combined with frontloading have made US elections an increasingly long process
• For the 2016 election Ted Cruz announced his intention to contest the Republican candidacy a whole 11 months before the 1st primary and nearly 600 days before the election day for President
• Candidates have also had to raise a lot of money, especially in the invisible primary, to have a chance of success
• National party conventions


  1. 4 day highly-publicised national party meeting which occurs every election year
• Delegates play the important role of representing the way their state voted in the primaries
• Super-delegates


  Elected Democratic officials (Members of Congress) or members of the Democratic National Committee (top of the party hierarchy) making up 15% of the delegates who have the power to nominate whichever candidate they desire regardless of how their state voted
• Super-delegates proved to be decisive in the 2008 Democratic primary where Obama depended on super-delegate support to achieve a majority
• National party conventions


  • Formally confirm and announce the winner of the primaries
  • Select the vice-presidential candidate
  • Decide the party platform
• Party platform

  Delegates debate and vote on party policies for the upcoming election
• In 2016, it took the Republican convention 6 minutes to confirm their platform
• National party conventions


  • Promote party unity
  • Enthuse the party
• Electoral College


  The electoral system that the US uses for its general election to the office of President
• The Electoral College is set out in the US Constitution (Article II)
• Electoral College


  Candidates are competing for an absolute majority of 'electors' which they get by winning states rather than aiming to win the popular vote
• The original reason for the Electoral College is that the Founding Fathers feared popular sovereignty i.e. the 'common people' having the ultimate say
• 21 states have no rules forcing electors to vote with their state, and in 2016, there were 7 'faithless electors' (5 Democrat and 2 Republican) meaning they did not vote the way their state did
• The number of Electoral College seats each state has is decided based on the number of congresspersons (which depends on population) plus the number of senators (2) each state has