McCormack Versus Udall

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, little research has been undertaken on the subject of intraparty leadership challenges in Congress. In this article, I introduce a theory to explain who will most likely support a challenge to an incumbent speaker of the House. I then test this theory for one such challenge in particular, against Speaker John McCormack in 1969, using newly obtained archival data related to the contest. The results suggest that legislators are most likely to support a challenge when it promises to satisfy one or more “multiple goals.” The findings also reveal that membership in the same entering class in Congress plays an important and previously unacknowledged causal role in determining support for a challenge to the speaker.