The effect of war chests on challenger entry in US House elections

This article examines whether a War chest deters potential challengers from entering a congressional race. I discuss theoretical arguments for and against deterrence. I find that previous analyses of war chests have omitted important variables, and thus, their conclusions are suspect. Using data from the 1984-1998 U.S. House elections, I employ a bivariate probit model with sample selection to test whether large war chests deter high or low-quality challengers from entering a race. Once previously omitted variables are included, I find that war chests do not deter challengers.