Oddbean new post about login | logout I was a bit bewildered by this earlier. What’s the turnover-due-to-defeat like in the US? It seems amazing to me that the same person can hold a seat for so long. Is it just that a few safe-states mean there are a handful of people who serve for decades, or is it common nation-wide? You really seem to need either term or age limits.
Term limits mean lobbyists end up running things. I’d be okay with age limits, but that would mean amendment, and it isn’t going to happen. A safe seat doesn’t mean forever (altho California leans D and has been rejecting the GOP outright ever since Ahnold’s budget crisis). Seats turn over more often than people think, but they also don’t often turn over. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/06/09/some-members-of-congress-have-been-there-for-decades-but-seats-typically-change-hands-more-frequently/