The Dynamics of Campaign Issue Agendas * Kevin K. Banda The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill July 3, 2013 Abstract I argue that candidates shape their issue agendas — the sets of related issues on which they focus — in part in response to the issue agendas of their opponents and that competitive campaigns stimulate candidates to respond to one another at higher rates. I test my theory of candidate interaction using weekly advertising data at the media market level from 146 statewide elections — 54 gubernatorial and 92 U.S. Senate contests — from six election years and across all 50 states. I find that candidates systematically respond to one another’s issue agendas and do so to a greater extent in competitive elections than in noncompetitive elections. Keywords: Campaigns · Elections · Agenda convergence · Issue ownership · Candidate behavior · Political advertising · Political communication * Forthcoming in State Politics and Policy Quarterly.