The Brazilian incumbent legislators have five major choices of political career: to withdraw from the elected political game (to retire); to run for local legislative position (regressive ambition); to run for re-election (static ambition); and to run for higher offices (progressive ambition). This paper built a model to explaining the features of incumbent legislators choices regarding their career's decisions in 1998's Brazilian election. We argue that it is not the "nature" of political ambition that determines legislators' choice, but the evaluation of the risks and costs entailed in the decision. The main findings suggest that incumbents with different career's choices present distinct strategies during their mandates, which have decisive influences on their preferences of what they do in order to survive politically.
political carrer; mandate; chamber of deputies; political strategy; reelection
