My project looks at the development of ideological discourses in congressional primary elections and how these changing strategies mobilize potential supporters in both primary and general elections by fostering connection between voters and parties. My work challenges academic theories that claim the major parties in the US have become more ideologically homogenous as they have polarized, showing instead that they remain ideologically heterogeneous. My research shows that in the polarized era the nature of internal party competition, specifically in congressional primary elections, has become dominated by ideological factors at the expense of valence factors. My research interests include polarization, political parties, cultural divisions, primary elections and intra-party competition.

Education:

Teaching:

Intra-Party Polarization?: The Mobilizing Effect of Factional Congressional Primaries (dissertation project)

Dissertation in Politics

Mentoring team:
First supervisor: Prof. Christian Lammert
Second supervisor: Prof. Sean M. Theriault
Third supervisor: Prof. Max Steinhardt

My PhD project looks at the development of ideological discourses in congressional primary elections. I investigate whether this mobilizes potential supporters in both primary and general elections by fostering connection between voters and parties. My work challenges academic theories that claim the major parties in the US have become more ideologically homogenous as they have polarized, showing instead that they remain ideologically heterogeneous. My research shows that in the polarized era the nature of internal party competition, specifically in congressional primary elections, has become dominated by ideological factors at the expense of valence factors.

I use data from congressional primaries between 2006 and 2018 to show that the dynamic of these contests has fundamentally changed. What were once low stakes contests concerned with nominating the most competent individual to represent the party in November elections have become races between ideological factions with nationally organized networks, identification and funding. These contests now take place in greater numbers and receive more media and voter interest than at any time since their inception. Primary transformation took place and continued during the period of study, with 2018 marking a high point for ideologically factional contests in both parties. Structural changes including new political forces participating in the nomination process have made ideology a more prevalent feature, suggesting that ‘factional primaries’ motivated by intra-party ideological difference are likely to be a long-term trend. This has been amplified by changes in electoral incentives for the parties and tactical changes on the part of candidates and voters alike.

This project seeks to show that congressional primaries do not drive polarization but these ideologically factional contests instead serve to mobilize potential voters, increasing turnout and improving party performance in general election contests. General election contests featuring candidates who earn the nomination via factional primaries will see higher turnout than those that do not which I demonstrate using a model of expected performance for candidates and expected turnout for races. This work challenges the divisive primary hypothesis in existing literature, showing instead that ideologically factional primaries improve performance by acting as a form of voter mobilization.

Publications:

Cowburn, Mike. (2020). ‘The Transformation of the Congressional Primary’ in Mobilization, Representation and Responsiveness in The American Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Conference Papers:

12/2019, Communicating the United States: British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference 2019, British Library

Paper: "Communication in Congressional Primaries: The Rise of Ideology in Intra-Party Contests"

11/2019, The Corrosion of the Liberal Democratic Order? Transatlantic Perspectives in Perilous Times: Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Heidelberg University

Paper:  "Democratic Re-Engagement? The Ideological Foundations of Growing Primary Participation"

06/2019 Threatened Democracies: Interdisciplinary Conference in North American Studies, University of Göttingen

Paper: “Fractured Parties and Factional Nominations”

06/2019 Intra-Party Politics in Times of Crisis: Party Congress Research Group Annual Meeting, University of Strathclyde

Paper: “Intra-Party Factionalism and Ideological Competition in US Congressional Primaries”

11/2018 Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Universität Passau

Paper: “Mediators of Faction: The Transformation of the Congressional Primary”