Research

Party Factions and Partisan Polarization in U.S. Congressional Primaries: How Ideological and Factional Primaries Influence Candidate Positions

Dissertation in Political Science

Committee: Christian Lammert, Sean M. Theriault, Max Steinhardt, Rachel M. Blum, and David Bosold

The thesis demonstrates changes in the dynamics of competition in U.S. congressional primaries, offering evidence that between 2006 and 2020 ideological differences between candidates proximate to competing factions became the dominant reason for contested nominations, first in the Republican and then in the Democratic Party. I consider causal mechanisms of this development and implications for candidate positioning, empirically testing the selective and adaptative polarizing effects during the nomination process. Taking a contest-centered approach, the thesis foregrounds the dynamics of and reasons for primaries to better understand the implications for candidate positioning. In doing so, the thesis demonstrates that trends of intra-party factionalism and ideological narratives during the congressional nomination process influence candidates’ positions. Though primary voters do not reward non-centrist position-taking, candidates behave as if they do, adapting their positions both between and within election cycles.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Cowburn, Mike and Michael T. Oswald. 2020. ‘Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter’. The Forum 18(3): 389–413.

Book Chapters

Cowburn, Mike. 2022. “Experience Narratives and Populist Rhetoric in U.S. House Primaries” in Michael T. Oswald (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Populism. Palgrave Macmillan..

Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “The Transformation of the Congressional Primary” in Michael T. Oswald (ed.) Mobilization, Representation and Responsiveness in The American Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Other Publications

Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “Not Just the Presidency: Congressional Primaries 2020.” Atlantische Akademie

Cowburn, Mike. 2020. “Fostering Engagement in Primaries and Caucuses.” PolticalScienceNow

Conference Papers

09/2021	117th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Seattle, WA Paper: “The Effects of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positions in Congressional Elections” Paper: “Intra-Party Division and News Media Engagement Among Republican Legislators”
06/2021	11th Annual Meeting of the European Political Science Association (EPSA)1 Paper: “Primary Roots of Partisan Polarization: The Effects of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positional Shifts in Congressional Elections”
06/2021	Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA)1 Paper: “Congressional Primaries in the 21st Century: Participation, Inequality, and Intra-Party Division”
04/2021	79th Annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA)* Paper: “Partisan Communication in Two-Stage Elections: The Effect of Primaries on Intra-Campaign Positional Shifts in Congressional Elections”
03/2021	Political Studies Association Annual Conference* Paper: “Inclusivity and Centralisation of Candidate Selectorates: Factional Consequences for Centre-Left Parties in Germany, England, and the United States”
01/2021	49th Annual Conference of the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association* Paper: “Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label: Ideological Differences in Republican Representative Use on Twitter”
11/2020	Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies* Paper: “Republican Legislator Adoption of the Fake News Label”
09/2020	116th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association* Paper: “Ideological Difference & Party Destabilization in Congressional Primary Contests”
08/2020	European Consortium for Political Research General Conference* Paper: “Intra-Party Ideological Disagreement in Congressional Nomination Processes”
07/2020	Early Career Network Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association* Paper: “The Rise of Ideology in U.S. Congressional Primaries”
06/2020	Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association* Paper: “Ideological Competition in U.S. Congressional Primaries”
06/2020	Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies~ Paper: “Polarizing Primaries? Income Inequality & Congressional Candidate Selection”
04/2020	78thAnnual Midwest Political Science Association Conference~ Paper: “From Personal to Ideological: The Transformation of the Congressional Primary” Paper: “The Evolution of the Fake News Label: Ideology & Time in Congress as Determinants of Republican Representative Use on Twitter”
12/2019	British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference, British Library Paper: “Communication in Congressional Primaries: The Rise of Ideology in Intra-Party Contests”
11/2019	Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Heidelberg University Paper: “Democratic Re-Engagement? The Ideological Foundations of Growing Primary Participation”
06/2019	Threatened Democracies: Interdisciplinary Conference in North American Studies, University of Göttingen Paper: “Fractured Parties and Factional Nominations”
06/2019	Intra-Party Politics in Times of Crisis: Party Congress Research Group Annual Meeting, University of Strathclyde Paper: “Intra-Party Factionalism and Ideological Competition in US Congressional Primaries”
11/2018	Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Passau University Paper: “Mediators of Faction: The Transformation of the Congressional Primary”

Cowburn-CV