Three factors related to the american electoral system affect who is elected to office in this country, and what they do once they get there. those factors are ...

Factor 1: Who decides to run for office and what advantages candidates have over one another.

Factor 2: Incumbency. Usually the incumbent (the person already serving in the office) has a large advantage over challengers, unless negative events have the voters wanting to get rid of incumbents.

Factor 3: The way congressional districts are drawn. There have been court cases recently about "gerrymandering" - - attempts by a party in power to draw district boundaries in ways that will serve to perpetuate that party's power.