01487nam a22001457a 4500999001900000008004100019100006700060245006900127260003400196300003400230520092700264773003401191942000701225952010901232  c533053d533053260421b           ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aSean Theriault, M.  Hrebenar, Jared and  Reyna, Isabel 960122  aThe legislative success of “Giant Killers” in the U.S. house  aPolitical Research Quarterly   a78(4), Dec, 2025: p.1336-1347  aIn modern congressional elections, fewer than 10% of candidates who run against sitting members of Congress win and yet they comprise as much as 30% of the House in any given congress. In this paper, we examine the legislative effectiveness of those relatively rare challengers who knock off incumbents. We name them, “Giant Killers,” and find that during the early part of their House careers they are 43% more effective than those who first join the House by winning an open seat. We suspect that the coalition-building skills that a candidate needs to win a difficult race against an incumbent may be similar to and correlated with the coalition-building skills needed to be legislatively successful.- Reproduced 


https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10659129251358704?_gl=1*5k47c2*_up*MQ..*_ga*MjMzNjk2NTEzLjE3NzY
3NTE3ODE.*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3NzY3NTE3ODAkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzY3NTE4MDQkajM2JGwwJGgyNTQ0NDIwNjg.  aPolitical Research Quarterly   cAR  00102ddc40709408224aIIPAbIIPAd2026-04-21h78(4), Dec, 2025: p.1336-1347pAR138565r2026-04-21yAR