Explaining the Competitiveness of Gubernatorial Primaries

Berry, William D.; Canon, Bradley C.

doi:10.2307/2132275

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…E S is therefore superior to a simple count of the number of candidates because it discounts non-competitive candidacies. For example, if one were to use Berry and Canon's (1993) measure of the number of candidates gaining 5 percent or more of the vote, then in the second above example, there are three candidates, despite the fact that one would want to discount the third candidate because of his poor showing. 4 The mean county effective number of candidates is a measure of the level of local political competition (Chhibber and Kollman, 1998).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is the approach used by previous researchers in the field (e.g. Berry and Canon, 1993;Canon, 1978). The problem with multiple regression in this case is that it is not an appropriate tool to test the hypotheses that if there is a plurality-rule political system, then E S , E C ≤ 2, while if there is a runoff primary, then E S , E C ≤ 3.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, the major parties were characterized by high levels of infighting, despite the presence of a strong opposition in Italy's multi-party democracy. Similarly, Canon (1978) notes that there was not a rise in factional organization in the South in the postwar period when the Republican Party gained influence; however, Berry and Canon (1993) find that as the Republican Party became stronger, the incentive to enter a double-primary system waned because the probability of ultimately winning office became lower. Overall, the literature offers little evidence that interparty competition is necessary or sufficient for bifactionalism.…”

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the incumbent candidate was believed to be one of the most viable candidates, it would have been simpler for voters to identify a single most likely competitor, increasing the likelihood that strategic considerations would have come into play. Similarly, prospective candidates would have been able to generate expectations about the incumbent candidate's likely electoral support, and could use that information to determine whether they were viable challengers in the next election (Berry and Canon, 1993;Black, 1983).…”

Section: Electoral Rules and The Structure Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Electoral Rules on Factional Competition in the Democratic South, 1919–48

Grynaviski

2004

Party Politics

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This article investigates the influence of electoral rules on the factional systems that emerge in the primaries of a one-party political system. It shows that at the state level, especially in gubernatorial primaries, Key (1949) is correct that Southern states did not typically follow the Duvergerian logic that for single-member districts there should be two competitors in plurality-rule primaries and three or fewer competitors in majority-rule with runoff primaries. However, it is found that Southern counties and parishes did satisfy the expectations of institutionalists. The latter finding is novel and important because it would seem to imply some form of political communication or organization that structured elections at the local level.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electoral Rules and The Structure Of Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Impact of Electoral Rules on Factional Competition in the Democratic South, 1919–48

Grynaviski

2004

Party Politics

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“…A variety of researchers have found that runoffs encouraged candidate involvement during the one-party era of Southern politics (Canon 1978;Wright and Riker 1989;Berry and Canon 1993). Even with the emergence of the Republican Party in the early 1990s, the increased competitiveness of Southern primaries is still pronounced.…”

Section: Prior Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Runoff Voters Will Do the Darndest Things: An Analysis of the 2008 Georgia Democratic Senate Runoff

Buchanan¹

2012

ARP

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Testing the frontrunner loses myth and minority loses myth, this paper examines the 2008 Georgia Democratic Senate runoff between Vernon Jones and Jim Martin. Despite winning 40 per-cent of the primary vote, Jones lost in the runoff to Jim Martin. Methods: We use a variety of data to determine what factors were having the greatest effect on the election. Results: Vernon Jones's strongest support came from the rural counties of central and southern Georgia. While Jones did win high levels of support in counties with large black populations, the fact that Jones was not performing as well in counties in metro Atlanta highlights that controversies surrounding Jones may have been playing a larger role than race. Conclusions: The lack of black voter turnout in the runoff illustrates the problems that even a black candidate has in motivating black voters to return for the runoff.

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