Q: Is extremism financially beneficial in primary elections?

A: Financial returns to extremism are comparable to electoral returns. While primary fundraising share decreases w/ $ network extremism, campaign platform extremism is, if anything, financially beneficial in primaries.

Q: Is extremism electorally beneficial in primary elections?

A: All else equal, Dems' & Reps' primary vote share decreases with $ network extremism. However, no penalty is apparent for Reps' campaign platform extremism, & platform extremism is actually *beneficial* to Dems.

Q: Are candidates still responsive to their districts?

A: Both Dem & Rep campaign platforms are more liberal in more heavily Dem districts. However, Dem $ networks are actually *less* liberal in more heavily Dem districts, & no relationship is apparent for Rep $ networks.

Using text scaling, I estimate campaign platform positions of the thousands of candidates who ran in House primaries from 2016-2024. These hand-collected data were a labor of love that occupied most of my PhD + my senior year of college (yes, I was fun at parties...)

Delighted to discover that "Candidate Positions, Responsiveness, and Returns to Extremism" is now available online from JOP 🧵
@thejop.bsky.social

Gated: journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Ungated: mellissameisels.com/files/MM_PCP...