when referring to a position in politics the incumbent is the individual who currently holds the office or position while the term applies to the person holding the position at all times it is more commonly used during elections as a way to differentiate two candidates in cases where the current position holder is running for a second term the person running against the incumbent is often referred to as the challenger 
holding the incumbent position may be seen as advantageous depending on the current sentiment of the associated constituents if the constituents feel current circumstances are acceptable there may be a higher inclination to vote for the incumbent if the constituents disapprove of the situation resulting from the incumbent s policies or actions they may be less inclined to vote for them incumbents are not required to attempt to maintain the position they currently hold though they do maintain the title until the day they step down from office if a new position is created and no one has stepped into the position prior to the first election there is no incumbent for the position special considerationscertain offices in the u s government have term limits when an incumbent must be up for re election some of these have life term limits meaning that once the full term limit has been met an individual cannot run for that office again in the u s the president has a term limit of four years where they can be re elected to serve another four years a president can serve a maximum of eight years in their lifetime 4the 22nd amendment to the u s constitution was passed in 1947 and ratified in 1951 it limits the term of the president to two terms in office for a total of eight years 5members of congress are split into senators and members of the house of representatives senators serve six year terms and then are up for re election while members of the house serve two year terms and then are up for re election neither the senate nor the house has life term limits meaning that they can serve again and again 6the purpose of having term limits is to prevent one individual from exerting so much control over a nation over an extended period of time as well as giving the citizens the right to change their leadership if they are no longer happy with who is elected this is a crucial point to the democratic framework of the united states many critics have argued that government representatives spend a significant portion of their time on re election campaigns and working to get re elected rather than on the actual responsibilities of the role or rather that re election takes away time from the responsibilities many arguments have been made to adjust term limits the election process and how candidates receive donations 