congressional elections

• congress - directly elected - hasnt always been the case
• 17th amendment - 1913 - senate became directly elected (since 1914)
• before this they were elected by state legislature
• congressional elections - held every 2 years (when its on the same year as pres it makes it difficult to distinguish voters behaviour)
• members of HoP serve for 2 years
• senators serve 6 years - but 1/3 senators are up for re election every 2 years
• :- in every cycle - 1/3 of the senate and the whole house are up for re-election
• elections are held on the tuesday after the first monday in November 
• elections in between pres elections are called the mid terms 

CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR REPS.

• at least 25
• us citizen for at least 7 years 
• resident of state they represent

CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SENATORS

• at least 30 
• us citizen for at least 9 years
• resident of the state they represent

Locality rule: many large states have passed a state law requiring reps to be a resident in the congressional district they represent

• if someone wants to gain a seat in congress they need to secure the nomination of one of the two major parties
• 3rd party candidates basically never win seats in congress
• they may have to run in a congressional primary - different from presidential primaries - winner of congressional primary automatically becomes that parties candidate in the general election
• congressional primaries…