Crafting an Image: The Electoral Connection

Crafting an Image: The Electoral Connection

"Congressmen must constantly engage in activities related to reelection." - Mayhew, pg. 49

Advertising:

   For Representative Martha McSally, advertising means money. While it is true that billboards, yard signs, commercials, ect. take money, McSally takes this to the extreme. The average House member in 2016 raised about $1.8 million in campaign contributions, McSally raised $8.45 million and spent $8.58 million in the 2016 election. McSally flooded the 2nd District with images of her face and people saying her name so that people would step into the voting booth and say "Oh wait, there's a doctor running against her? That's weird." and vote for the incumbent McSally. 

   Rep. McSally also advertised heavily through the incumbency advantage of franking, which can also be used for position taking and credit claiming. According to a Statement of Disbursements of the House, April 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015, McSally only spent about 0.35% of the budget granted to her by Congress on franking. However, according to a similar report for April 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016, McSally increased this dramatically by spending 8.14% of her budget on franking. 

   Representative McSally follows the guidelines of advertising through means that have little or no content as asserted by Mayhew. Some of her more popular ads from the 2016 election such as "Dad" (a video of which can be found in my previous blog post) and "Boomer" really work to build a reputation for McSally as a person rather than talk about her ideas or plans for a second term in Congress. 

Position Taking:

   Representatives participate in the electoral activity of position taking in many different ways. One of the most prominent is through her McSally's website which discusses her general stance on the issues that concern her and her district. 

   Representative McSally also frequently uses press releases and news media to clarify her positions. For Martha McSally especially, whose district is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, it is necessary to try to balance and communicate her positions in the quite divisive atmosphere brought about by the new presidential administration. Accordingly, many of McSally's most recent press releases discuss her reactions to the different actions taken by the executive branch, including her response to the border executive order, something particularly important to her district since it shares a border with Mexico, and letters that urge President Trump to "Restore Animal Welfare Transparency",

Credit Claiming:

   One of Representative McSally's favorite pastimes is credit claiming. Whether it is through social media, press releases, news media, websites, or face to face, McSally champions herself as not only the woman who can get things done, but who is getting things done. Her Instagram shows how she is securing the border, her Twitter boasts of her being a Vice Chair of the Readiness Subcommittee, and her Facebook highlights how she is a champion of mental health. Her website is full of boasts about her sponsoring this bill and getting that bill through the House. 

   To make sure everyone knows of all the great things she is doing in Washington D.C., McSally frequently travels back to her district to tell the population how grateful they should be to have her. While in 2015, McSally spent about 3.54% of her Congressional budget on travel, she nearly doubled that in 2016 up to 6.3%, just to make sure that when people were voting they could keep in mind all her good deeds.