Preventative Polarization

Republican Senators’ Positional Adaptation in the Tea Party Era

Bibliographic Data

ID6180004
AuthorsMike Cowburn (0000-0003-4416-8027, European University Viadrina, corresponding author), Sean M Theriault (0000-0001-5163-858X, The University of Texas at Austin), Sean Theriault
Year2025
Volume53
Issue2
Pages125-139
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Politics Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532673x241295697
OpenAlexW4403605978
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited57

Republicans in Congress have, by almost any measure, become significantly more conservative over the last 25 years. We propose that the changing pressures they face when seeking reelection helps explain this trend. Rather than moderating towards the general election median voter as they had previously done, Republican senators became more conservative when seeking reelection to avoid the emergence of, or mitigate the threat from, a primary opponent after the Tea Party emerged. We also show that at the height of the Tea Party era—the 111th to 113th congresses—retiring senators moderated their voting behavior, suggesting that their personal preferences were more moderate than their expressed preferences. During the Trump era, we report mixed results, suggesting that the threat posed by primary challengers was not solely ideological, though the new dynamics and behaviors that emerged in the Tea Party era have continued to shape the Republican Party in the Senate

Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Tea party · Chemistry · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration

Tools

Open DOI