The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W. Bush was the incumbent, because he was the president in the current term while the election sought to determine the president for the following term. A race without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat.

The word "incumbent" is derived from the Latin verb incumbere, literally meaning "to lean or lay upon" with the present participle stem incumbent-, "leaning a variant of encumber, while encumber is derived from the root cumber, most appropriately defined: "4. To occupy obstructively or inconveniently; to block fill up with what hinders freedom of motion or action; to burden, load."

In general, incumbents have structural advantages over challengers during elections. The timing of elections may be determined by the incumbent instead of a set schedule. For most political offices, the incumbent often has more name recognition due to their previous work in the office. Incumbents also have easier access to campaign finance, as well as government resources (such as the franking privilege) that can be indirectly used to boost a campaign. An election (especially for a legislature) in which no incumbent is running is often called an open seat; because of the lack of incumbency advantage, these are often amongst the most hotly-contested races in any election.

JB Straubel (born Jeffrey B. Straubel, December 20, 1975) is part of the founding team and the Chief Technical Officer of Tesla Motors, an electric car company based in San Carlos, California. At Tesla, Straubel oversees the technical and engineering design of the vehicles. Straubel also has responsibility for new technology evaluation, R&D, technical diligence review of key vendors and partners, IP, and systems validation testing.

In 2008, Straubel was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. He spoke at MIT's Emtech conference on a panel on green transportation in Boston, MA in September 2008. Straubel was honored to keynote the Stanford Alumni EDAY in July 2008. In July 2008, Straubel spoke on a transportation panel "Progression Toward EVs" at Plug In 2008. In early 2008, Stanford Magazine featured Straubel's role in growing the Stanford presence at Tesla Motors. In September 2007, JB spoke on an energy panel titled "Clean, Secure, and Efficient Energy" at Stanford University along with former Secretary of State, George Shultz, where he emphasized the importance of education about climate change, and decreasing the CO₂ intensity of our current energy production methods.Popular Science magazine featured Straubel in a full-length article in April 2007. His photograph was shown in The Economist in July 2006, taking Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a drive at the Tesla Roadster unveiling in Santa Monica, California. In March 2012, Straubel will be speaking at the DESIGN West conference, produced by UBM Electronics, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA.

Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is the senior United States Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the United States Representative for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district.

Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, where his parents, Millie and Florence James Graham, ran a liquor store, the Sanitary Cafe. After graduating from D. W. Daniel High School, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. When he was 21 his mother died, and his father died 15 months later. Because his sister was left orphaned, the service allowed Graham to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia so he could be near home and care for his sister, whom he adopted. During his studies, he became a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi.

Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Psychology in 1977 and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a J.D. in 1981. Upon graduating, Graham was commissioned as an officer and judge advocate in the United States Air Force, placed on active duty and sent to Europe as a military prosecutor. He eventually entered private practice as a lawyer.