Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, we examine party and legislator behavior when a legislature undergoes a change in the majority party. While there is a much work done on the influence of party control and divided government, less work exists on what happens to individual legislators when they move from being in the majority to the minority, or vice versa, following an election. At the party level, change in majority could simply lead to a flip-flop of the party division or it could lead to a fundamentally different type of relationship between the parties in the chamber. At the individual level, we examine several potential consequences of this relationship. Particularly for moderate members under the minority, do they become more ideologically extreme when their party gains control? Do they remain more moderate and gain more success than their ideological counterparts? We use bill introduction and roll call data in 1999-2000 and 2003-2004 to test the effects of changes in party control on both the parties and individual legislators in the states. Using this roll call data across two legislative sessions allows us to examine both party level and individual changes associated with a change in party control.