A Bicameral Perspective on Legislative Retirement: The Case of the Senate

Abstract

Existing Theories of congressional retirement have developed in the cotext of the House of Representatives and thus do not consider important differences between the Senate and the House. Our empirical analysis of Senate retirement from 1962 to 2000 demonstrates that retirement decsions of Senators are not affected by the same things that affect their House colleagues' decisions; electoral safety and the value of formal insttutional positions influence Senators less than House members. Senate retirement decisions are affected by the age of the member and majoritparty status. We discuss implications of our results for the Senate's opeation and place in the constitutional system.