Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper attempts to combine the literature on women in legislatures, which argues women are different legislators in many respects, with the legislative literature that addresses influences on legislative organization and behavior. I argue that women legislators attempt to form coalitions in the legislative chamber, but their ability to form these coalitions varies according to the legislative environment in which they participate. Using a comparative analysis of voting scores produced from roll call voting data in 75% of the US state legislative chambers, I find women legislators do form voting coalitions in some, but not all legislatures, but these coalitions can be among women in separate parties, in only one party, or among women in the entire chamber (i.e. across party lines). Additionally, the cohesion of these coalitions is tempered by the size of the legislative chamber, the cohesion of the Republican Party in the chamber, the presence of a woman leader in the chamber, and the existence of a formal women's caucus in the chamber. This research suggests roll call voting can be a useful measure of women's behavior in the legislatures, and that gender can be a factor in legislative organization in the states.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Websites of the 50 state legislatures were evaluated on five criteria: Content, Usability, Interactivity, Transparency, and Audience. An overall quality score for each state was computed. The states with the highest quality websites were New Jersey, Minnesota, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Connecticut. The index of the 50 state scores was found to be correlated with various political and demographic characteristics of the states. The strongest relationships were with internet access, education, income, voting participation, and legislative staff.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: I present the first large-N examination of career choice in state legislatures, employing multinomial logit to model simultaneously reelection, retirement, and higher office seeking decisions in eighteen state lower chambers from 1986-2002. There are several contributions. First, salary influences career decisions, with legislators less likely to retire as salary increases. This is a new finding, as Congress studies omit salary due to lack of variation. Second, majority status has little influence on careers decisions. This finding holds despite an improved operationalization of majority status that involves estimates of the probability of future majority status. Third, career decisions are highly sensitive to the relative probability of victory. In particular, redistricting substantially increases the probability of retirement and higher office seeking. Fourth, progressive ambition is remarkably strong, with legislators highly responsive to the open seats in higher offices and the structure of higher office opportunities. Fifth, there are partisan differences in reelection seeking, with Republicans more likely to retire than Democrats.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the impact that term limits have on the redistricting of state legislatures. Specifically, we compare the overall success of majority parties in the redistricting process in legislatures that have term limits to those without. We then use district level analysis to determine how majority parties use the districts of term-limited members to redistribute supporters from safe to more competitive districts. We find that the majority party changes district lines to a greater extent if the legislators representing those districts are being term limited. Furthermore, the majority party is more strategic in reallocating voters for partisan gain in term-limited districts. Overall, our findings suggest that term limits make the redistricting process more partisan and that a reform intended to remove incumbents from the legislature actually strengthens the incumbent party.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Some of the central questions driving this paper are as follows: (1) Under what conditions are Latinos elected to Congress and state legislatures? While it is true that many Latinos are elected from majority Latino districts, many Latino legislators do not represent districts with majority Latino populations. (2) How much does the ethnic composition of a district affect the chances that a Latino candidate will run for office? Challengers to incumbents often face an uphill climb in their efforts to be elected to a given office. Latino candidates may find it advantageous to run in a district with a majority-minority population, as did Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). However, no Latinos in the U.S. Congress represent majority white districts. (3) Additionally, how much does the ethnic composition of a district affect the chances that a Latino candidate will be elected in a given district? At least at the national level, very little evidence exists that Latinos are being elected from districts with white majorities. No districts with a combined white and Latino population majority elect Latino members of Congress. At the state level, this pattern differs, which is why it is crucial to understand the variables that contribute to Latino victories at the state level. The smaller the district’s constituency the more likely it is for Latinos to be elected from a variety of demographic districts. This paper will examine the state legislatures of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as some preliminary analysis of the U.S. House building on Lublin’s (1997) analyses.