Beyond Pivotal Politics: Constituencies, lectoral Incentives, and Veto Override Attempts in the House

Veto override attempts offer an ideal opportunity to study the president's influence in Congress. A bill's content is identical during final passage and veto override votes, yet some members of Congress vote differently on these two roll-calls. This article focuses on those members of Congress who switch their votes to join, or defect from, the president's coalition during veto override votes. The empirical analysis investigates veto override attempts from 1973 to 2011 to determine which members of Congress are most likely to change their votes during veto overrides. I find that the president's ability to win, or keep, members' support on veto override votes is determined in part by members' electoral incentives and the president's strength in members' constituencies. In particular, the president's strength in members' constituencies makes presidential party members more likely to join the president's veto override coalition and also makes opposition party members more likely to defect from the president's veto override coalition. Accounting for the influence of constituencies and electoral incentives augments party-based and ideology-based theories of congressional behavior and thus helps build richer, more comprehensive, and more accurate theories of member behavior.