Why Do People Run for Office? Political Motivations of First-Time Candidates

• In Event: Poster Session: Intergroup Dynamics and Tolerance & Representation and Electoral Systems
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Electoral Systems and Representation

Abstract

Descriptively, office holders tend to represent a select few, rather than capturing the diversity of the larger populace. Hence, the question of candidates’ motivations to run in an election occupies a special place in representation studies. Prior research has indeed acknowledged various political motivations—ranging from office seeking, policy objectives, partisanship, to civic goals. Yet, existing studies predominantly focus on candidates and incumbents that have already decided to compete in elections, or instead ask citizens to imagine running for office. This paper introduces a theory about the initial motivations of aspiring politicians integrating arguments about who these individuals are (expressive motivations) and what they want to achieve (strategic motivations). To test our theory in the context of a real campaign, we exploit a candidate selection reform by one of the largest political parties in Argentina, PRO. We look into first-ever survey data on individuals who want to be nominated and those who actually run, which gives us a rare look into the actual decision to compete for office. Our approach combines two complementary data collection efforts: an online survey carried out by PRO as registration of the intent to be nominated for the 2023 legislative election; and an original 2-wave panel survey of registered participants during the selection process. We rely on both closed- and open-ended questions to gather respondents’ motivations to run. Our findings shed light on the motivations behind becoming politicians and which among them have greater significance for both descriptive and substantive forms of representation.

Authors

• M. Belén Abdala, University of Vienna

• Carolina Plescia, University of Vienna