Candidate Platforms and Rhetoric in the 2018 Congressional Primaries

• In Event: Politics of the Primary: How Electoral Institutions Affect Voters and Candidates

Abstract

This paper examines how candidates positioned themselves in the 2018 congressional primaries and what campaign strategies led to primary and general election success. We specifically analyze how candidates employed gender, anti-Washington rhetoric, and past political experience (or lack thereof) in their campaigns. Looking at these themes we examine which strategies led to the greatest success contingent on district and race conditions. Our text data were collected from campaign websites, where we scrapped the candidate biographies and platforms for every candidate who ran in the 2018 congressional primaries.

Authors

• Rachel Porter

• Sarah A. Treul, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill