The Dynasty Advantage: Family Ties in Congressional Elections

Abstract

Political dynasties, families in which multiple members have held elected office, commonly feature in the U.S. Congress. I explored the electoral origins of this phenomenon and determined that members of political dynasties have a significant advantage over first‐generation politicians in open‐seat House elections. Using an original dataset containing candidate‐ and district‐level covariates for all candidates in open‐seat House contests between 1994 and 2006, I found that dynastic politicians enjoy “brand name advantages,” giving them a significant edge over comparable nondynastic opponents. In contrast, hypotheses concerning potential advantages stemming from past political experience and fundraising ability yield null results.

Political Dynasties in Thailand: The Recent Picture after the 2011 General Election

“…This is true, at least, in the US (Feinstein, 2010). During the period when the ban was in place, the constraints on Thai electoral politics made it difficult to publicise candidates.…”

“…Thus, the emergence of capitalist politicians' networks in the Thai provinces was the turning point in Thai politics, and its correlation with political dynasties could be observed. Indeed, since the business practices of local capitalists, including family-based and monopolistic management styles and seeking privileges from government officials (Anek, 1988;Pasuk & Baker, 1997;Tamada, 1991), are similar to those that political dynasties have used to achieve, maintain and pass on their political power (Dal Bo, Dal Bo, & Snyder, 2009;Asako et al, 2012;Feinstein, 2010), the increased number and proportion of dynastic politicians elected to the House is to be expected as a consequence of the more direct involvement of Thai capitalist politicians in elections. Moreover, Thailand's political changes in the period since 1979 have also been significant.…”

“…In democracies, the existence of political dynasties does not provide for automatic power transition within the family. Instead, these politicians will take advantage of their renowned families in terms of prosperity, talent, reputation or public image, which can be used to promote themselves to achieve political success, and these advantages can be transmitted across generations (Dal Bo, Dal Bo, & Snyder, 2009;Asako et al, 2012;Feinstein, 2010).…”

Asia's Hybrid Dynasties

“…29 In the US case, Brian Feinstein has shown hereditary politicians received an additional four percentage points of the vote in Congressional elections compared to their non-dynastic counterparts given their political 'brand name'. 30 But these 'unfair' advantages that dynasts enjoy point to the strategic value of heredity and why it might be considered wise to draw upon it in electoral politics. In Asia, 'democratic dynasts' can be found at all levels in most of the region's electoral democracies.…”

Following (Not Quite) in Your Father's Footsteps: Task Followers and Labor Market Outcomes

“…Indeed this phenomenon has been found in truly a wide variety of professions including agriculture, proprietors, doctors, surgeons, politicians, public sector workers, race car drivers, lawyers and other professional occupations Lentz and Labond, 1989;Labond, 1990, Groothuis andGroothuis, 2007;Scoppa, 2009;Feinstein, 2010;Aina and Nicoletti, 2014).…”