Reinforcing Stereotypes? Race and Local Television News Coverage of Congress*

Objective. Despite the increasingly diverse legislative records of African‐American members of Congress, much of the population continues to believe that African‐American legislators are interested only in minority issues. If African‐American House members are becoming more like their nonblack colleagues, then why do many citizens continue to hold these stereotypes about African‐American legislators? Methods. We examine local television news coverage of House members and compare the coverage received by African‐American and nonblack incumbents. Results. We find that local television newscasts devote more coverage to African‐American members of Congress but this coverage is also more race oriented, especially in less diverse markets. In fact, local television stations produce more race‐oriented coverage of African‐American legislators regardless of their legislative records on minority issues. Conclusions. Local television news stations may be partially responsible for the prevailing stereotype of African‐American House members who are narrowly focused on race‐oriented issues.     

Disentangling Constituency and Legislator Effects in Legislative Representation: Black Legislators or Black Districts?*

Objective. Does the race of a legislator or does the black population of a district best predict legislative roll‐call voting in the interests of African Americans? Due to methodological limitations, no prior study has found that both the race of the legislator and the black district population are significant predictors of congressional roll‐call voting. Drawing on post Shaw v. Reno/Miller v. Johnson congressional districts (with greater data variance), I examine the effect of these two racial representation variables on roll‐call voting in the 104th–106th Congresses. Methods. Linear regression with random effects is employed in two statistical models. Results. Even when the black district population and party are considered, the presence of an African‐American legislator leads to greater substantive representation of black constituents. Conclusion. Districting plans that maximize the election of black legislators and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of liberal voting in Congress, while districting plans that maximize black district populations and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of civil rights voting records in Congress.     

Race and Environmental Voting in the U.S. Congress

Objective. This article examines long-term trends in the environmental voting behavior in Congress and attempts to identify the factors that account for racial differences in voting patterns. Methods. Hypotheses about the various possible influences on environmental voting behavior are tested using longitudinal analyses and path analysis techniques. Results. Findings indicate African American members of Congress have been consistently more supportive of proenvironment legislation than either Republican or Democrat colleagues from 1981 to 1998. The data further suggest that much of these overall differences are explained by an especially large racial gap in proenvironmental voting among members from the South. Although such a gap among members from outside the South is eliminated by controlling for ideology and other variables, it remains substantial among Southern members. Conclusions. Based on the strong and consistent support for environmental legislation by African American members of Congress in the past, we expect significant racial differences in environmental voting to endure. Although results suggest that ideology plays a partial role in explaining such differences, future research will be needed to identify the reasons for the especially large racial gap in proenvironmental voting among members from the South. Given the growth in their numbers, their relatively safe seats, and their potential to chair important committees as they gain seniority, we expect African American legislators to play an increasingly important role in shaping and deciding the fate of national environmental policy in the future.     

Assessing the value of state legislative experience and legislative professionalism in national election performance, 1974–2010

State legislative experience and chamber professionalism have been shown to benefit state legislators as they decide and prepare to run for national office in American Congressional elections. Yet, what are the effects of these two factors on national election performance? I test the implications from the literature that state legislative experience and chamber professionalism should impact national election outcomes on all two-party contested elections from 1974 to 2010. I find that state legislative experience enhances candidates’ vote shares, though differently for different candidates. Yet, surprisingly professionalism plays no moderating role. Such effects present at the earlier stages of elections wash out as elections come to a close.     

Racial Representation and U.S. Senate Apportionment*

Objectives. This research note explores whether the system of assigning each state equal representation in the U.S. Senate adversely affects racial minorities, groups that often have common political interests. We also project changes in minority representation over the next 20 years using Census data. Methods. We develop a new method of assessing racial bias due to apportionment, which calculates the number of seats lost by groups due to equal representation, a more substantively meaningful statistic than correlational measures. Results. We find that both African Americans and Hispanics are substantially underrepresented due to their greater presence in high‐population states as compared to in low‐population states. Whereas bias against African Americans appears to be falling, the demographic patterns of Hispanics will make them even more underrepresented in coming years. Conclusions. These findings are especially consequential considering that malapportionment has important public policy implications, including greater per‐capita distributive benefits for smaller states. Further, given that the Senate serves as a major veto point in U.S. politics, racial bias due to equal apportionment may have a significant impact on current and future political debates relevant to minority groups.     

Teacher‐Student Racial Congruence,Teacher Perceptions,and Test Performance*

Objective. This research explores the seldom‐addressed question of whether teacher‐student racial congruence conditions the impact of teacher perceptions on performance. Methods. Multipopulation LISREL models (utilizing data from the NELS) compare the effect of white teachers' perceptions on African‐American standardized test performance to the corresponding effect among white students. Parallel models compare the impact of African‐American teacher perceptions across races. Preliminary models gauge whether the match/mismatch of teacher's and student's race shapes teacher perceptions of African‐American and white students. Results. The impact of teachers' perceptions on test performance shows signs of being especially pronounced in the racially dissonant white teacher‐black student context—the very context where teacher perceptions seem especially likely to be unfavorable. Conclusions. This research provides new insight on the relevance of teacher perceptions to the black‐white performance gap. Racial congruence seems primarily consequential to African‐American test performance—shaping both teacher perceptions and (somewhat less so) the impact of such perceptions on performance.     

Institutional and District‐Level Sources of Competition in State Legislative Elections*

Objectives. What are the sources of partisan competition in state legislative elections? Specifically, what impact do institutional features have relative to district‐level conditions on competition between party nominees? Methods. Using data from 30 states in 1994 and 1996, a range of factors are examined to determine their influence on both the likelihood that a race is contested and the degree of competition that results. Results. Multiple regression analyses indicate that a district's characteristics, measured as social and partisan diversity, have a strong and durable influence on elections. Contested elections are more likely and competition levels are higher in districts with heterogeneous populations. Institutional characteristics such as legislative professionalism also have a large influence, although the direction of their impact varies by stage of the electoral process examined. For example, professionalism increases the likelihood that an election is contested, but leads to a lower level of competition between opposing candidates. Conclusions. District‐level conditions have a large influence on competition; however, incentives created by institutional features are also critical for understanding the competitiveness of state legislative elections.     

Organized Interests and Political Extortion: A Test of the Fetcher Bill Hypothesis*

Objectives. Although the Fetcher Bill Hypothesis, which is that legislators introduce bills in order to extort campaign contributions from organized interests, has been given new prominence by suggestions that it can provide a general explanation of the composition of legislative agendas and the structure of interest communities, tests of the hypothesis are narrow, rare, and indirect. We provide an alternative test to more directly assesses its core implications. Methods. We test the hypothesis using single‐year and pooled‐regression analyses of 1995, 1997, and 1999 data on lobby registrations by organized interests in the American states—a venue providing substantial variation in legislative activity, the density of lobbying organizations, and the campaign finance systems that are presumed to drive rent seeking. Results. The tests provide little evidence that policy agendas induce lobby registrations. Conclusions. These results indicate that the Fetcher Bill Hypothesis cannot provide a sufficient account of the composition of either legislative agendas or lobbying communities.     

Exploring voting behavior on American Indian legislation in the United States Congress

Using roll call data from 1970 to 2000, this study explores the impacts of partisanship, regionalism, and Indian constituency on congressional pro-Indian voting in the U.S. House and Senate. This study incorporates and tests a new measure of constituency by accounting for the presence of a federally recognized tribe within congressional districts. The presence of an Indian nation has a positive effect on the voting behavior of elected officials concerning American Indian legislation, with a significant relationship observed between pro-Indian voting and congressional districts with Indian tribes. The results also suggest a strong partisan influence on the likelihood of voting with the pro-Indian position in both the House and the Senate, but with notable differences between the two chambers. Finally, partisan voting on Indian legislation intensified from the 1970s to the late 1990s, which led to more contentious voting patterns on Indian affairs in the legislative branch over time.     

When Southern Symbolism Meets the Pork Barrel: Opportunity for Executive Leadership*

Objectives. Many empirical studies have sought to explain executive‐legislative relations at the federal level; however, much less research on this topic is available at the state level. This article examines legislative‐gubernatorial relations in Georgia using the highly visible, emotion‐laden, and politically costly issue of changing the state flag. Methods. Using probit models, estimated probabilities for various sets of hypothetical legislators are constructed to explain the vote in each house of the Georgia General Assembly. Results. In the absence of executive pressure, constituency characteristics, specifically district racial composition, dominated legislative decision making on the governor's initiative. In the Senate, where there was adequate time for lobbying before the vote, the carrot of additional school construction funding weighed heavily in legislators' vote calculus. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that governors can, and do, use district‐specific benefits as a tool to help ensure the success of their legislative agendas.     

Sex and the Statehouse: The Effects of Gender on Legislative Roll‐Call Voting*

Objective. This analysis examines whether differences exist between women and men state legislators in their roll‐call voting behavior involving matters of economic and regulatory policy. Methods. Using interest group rating scores, I examine the voting behavior of representatives in the lower houses of 28 states in legislative sessions from 1995 to 2000. By controlling for a host of variables related to legislators (political party, years of service, etc.) and their districts (average income, level of education, urbanization, etc.), I am able to isolate the independent effect of gender on roll‐call voting. Results. The findings demonstrate that among Democratic legislators women are less conservative than men, but among Republican lawmakers women are slightly more conservative than men. Additional analyses show that many factors that influence legislative voting by women and men are similar; however, political party has a more prominent effect among women. Conclusion. Although factors such as political party and some constituency characteristics exert a much stronger influence than gender, women and men legislators differ in their roll‐call voting even when controls for a wide assortment of individual‐ and district‐level conditions are taken into account.     

Too Cool for School? The Relationship between Coolness and Academic Reputation in Early Adolescence

The relationship between peer‐nominated coolness and academic reputation was examined at two time points spanning the first year of middle school (N = 807; 52 percent female; 52 percent African‐American; 48 percent European American). Students predominantly nominated peers who were from their same gender and ethnic group as being cool. Associations between coolness and academic reputation differed across subgroups, were contingent upon level of disruptive behavior, and changed over time from fall to spring of the academic year. In the fall, patterns differed by gender, not by ethnicity. For both white and African‐American boys, hierarchical regressions evidenced a null association between coolness and academic reputation; for both white and African‐American girls, this association was positive. In the spring, findings for white girls were similar to findings from the fall. For the three remaining groups—white boys and African‐American boys and girls—conditions worsened over time, albeit in slightly dissimilar ways. For white boys, fall coolness did not predict significant declines in academic reputation over time; nonetheless, as a group, the coolness–academic reputation was negative by the end of the year. For African‐American boys and girls, fall coolness significantly predicted declines in academic reputation from fall to spring, although the concurrent coolness–academic reputation association was not significantly negative for either group in the spring.     

Black legislative politics: Examining the issue of voting rights in the post-Hurricane Katrina period

Following Hurricane Katrina, a significant number of black voters were displaced from the New Orleans metropolitan area. With the 2006 New Orleans municipal elections forthcoming, especially the mayoral election, a significant portion of displaced black voters were faced with being disenfranchised, which was a violation of their civil rights and posed a threat to black political leadership in the city. This article examines whether black legislators provided substantive representation to these voters during the post-Hurricane Katrina period. That is, did black legislators advocate a legislative agenda to facilitate access to the ballot for displaced black New Orleans voters? Using a multi-methodological approach, evidence is presented indicating that black legislators did provide substantive representation to black voters by introducing key voting rights bills and voting in a way that was responsive to black concerns which facilitated access to the ballot.     

The Negative Effects of Populism on Gay and Lesbian Rights*

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the degree to which populist features of state governments affect minority interests, particularly gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (GLB) Method. We examine the effects of specific institutional features that affect state government responsiveness to majority preferences on GLB policies: bans on same‐sex marriage and hate crime. We also control for variations in political environment. Results. Features that increase popular control over policy making and policymakers advance anti‐GLB policies but have little effect on pro‐GLB policies; however, legislative term limits have the opposite effect. Further, constituency size and senators' term length increases both types of policies. Conclusions. The findings indicate that an unpopular minority is likely to be harmed by populist features that increase the role of citizens and may be helped by features that shield legislators from majoritarian preferences.     

Listen to What I Say,Not How I Vote: Congressional Support for the President in Washington and at Home*

Objectives. Are legislators' party affiliations or is district partisanship the greatest predictor of legislative support of the president? Do members of the U.S. House emphasize different policy positions when casting roll calls than when communicating their positions to constituents? We theorize that party is less important in legislators' district‐oriented behavior than in roll‐call voting. When casting roll calls, legislators are agents facing multiple principals, namely, political party leaders and their district constituencies. When engaging in district‐oriented behavior, the only key principal is the legislator's constituency. Methods. We analyze legislators' positions on roll calls and in platforms. Platforms are examined with a unique data set of franked mass mailings sent by House members. Linear and limited dependent variable models are employed. Results. Our findings show that constituency preferences are a more consistent predictor of legislative support for the president when analyzing legislators' platforms, and that political party has a relatively limited effect. When analyzing roll‐call votes, party is the key predictor. Conclusions. Political parties may be interested in what legislators do as opposed to what they say. The platform findings are in contrast to most recent empirical work examining position taking, though consistent with the canonical works of Mayhew and Fenno. This has implications for theories of parties in Congress that tie party behavior in the legislature to partisanship in the electorate.     

Regional Variations in the Realignment of American Politics, 1944–2004*

Objective. Perennial questions in electoral studies are what constitutes realignment, and when and where do realignments occur? Using the concepts of critical and secular realignments as a framework, we model change in the end product of realignment, election outcomes. We test for secular and critical changes in partisan strength across six geographic regions of the United States, focusing on office‐holding data at both the federal and state legislative level. Methods. Using an interrupted time‐series model, we examine evidence for secular realignment and posit five critical interventions that have affected American politics since World War II. Results. Our findings suggest that there are elements of both critical and secular realignments at work with different patterns in each region, and that different regions have been affected by a variety of elections associated with critical events since 1944. Conclusions. The collapse of Republican hegemony in the Northeast and Pacific West has gone largely unnoticed, buried in the intense examination of the growth of the Republican Party in the American South. The 1994 election is the most prominent in terms of its impact on seat holding by the parties at both the state and national level, and constitutes a realigning election.     

Executive‐Legislative Relations: Where You Sit Really Does Matter*

Objectives. Do state legislators believe there is a proper balance of power between the governor and the legislature? The research uses both individual and institutional factors to explain the variation in legislators' opinions. Methods. The results of a mail survey sent to all legislators in nine states were used as the basic data source for the study. The dependent variable required the legislators to indicate if a proper balance of power existed. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) was performed. Results. A sizeable majority of legislators (66 percent) thought there was a proper balance of power between the governor and the legislature. HGLM found no discernable role for a number of state‐level characteristics. The analysis did uncover a negative relationship between perceived balance of power and whether the governor had previously served in the legislature. Female legislators were more likely to express a lower level of satisfaction with the balance of power than their male counterparts. The partisan relationship between legislators and governors as well as the majority/minority status of the legislators proved to be most important in explaining legislators' perceptions. Conclusions. Contrary to popular opinion, the relationships between the two branches of government are not inherently contentious. Legislators from the governor's party were most likely to assess the relationship as proper.     

Fusion ballots as a candidate-centered reform: Evidence from Oregon

This article argues that fusion balloting, or the ability of multiple parties to nominate a single candidate for office, can be viewed as a candidate-centered and incumbent-oriented reform. Using the recent passage of fusion legislation in Oregon in 2009 and its subsequent use in 2010 state legislative elections as a test case, I study the factors behind supporting fusion legislation in both chambers of the state legislature and how these same factors affected, or did not affect, the incumbents that received cross-nominations in the 2010 elections. Overall, I find that party did not play a direct role in determining which legislators supported fusion, though female legislators were less supportive. When it came to obtaining nominations, the main finding is that incumbent candidates who voted yes to fusion were generally more likely to receive nominations. Still, legislators from the group that most opposed fusion, Democratic women, attempted to win cross-nominations once the 2010 elections approached. These findings suggest that candidate factors, more than party dictates, affected support for fusion and the ability of incumbents to receive cross-endorsements. Thus, the willingness of major-party candidates to adopt fusion can be understood through theories of candidate-centered elections and political parties.