The electoral connection in the U.S. Senate's

Congressional scholars largely agree that electoral considerations influence the behavior of members of Congress, a phenomenon referred to as the electoral connection. A disproportionate share of scholarship on the electoral connection, however, focuseson the House of Representatives. This dissertation examines how the U.S. Senate'sinstitutional design, such as staggered terms or different methods of election overtime, influence senators relationship with constituents. The analyses reported arebased on a series of quasi-experimental and experimental research designs that utilizeunique aspects of the Senate's institutional structure. Overall, this project highlightsthe importance of institutional design for understanding how elections influence thebehavior of legislators in the U.S. Congress.