Vanishing Marginals in State Legislative Elections

Weber, R.; Tucker, Harvey J.; Brace, Paul

doi:10.2307/439965

Cited by 65 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The general election vote share is likely to be less in multimember legislative districts (Cox and Morgenstern 1995;Niemi, Jackman, and Winksy 1991;Weber, Tucker, and Brace 1991). Thus, an indicator variable distinguishing between single-member districts (coded "1") and multi-member districts (coded "0") is included.…”

Section: Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The level of legislative professionalization has been demonstrated to have an effect on state legislative electoral outcomes (Berry, Berkman, and Schneiderman 2000;Carey, Niemi, and Powell 2000;Holbrook and Tidmarch 1991;Van Dunk and Weber 1997;Weber, Tucker, and Brace 1991). For this variable, the individual legislative salary is used as a measure of professionalism (the higher the salary, the more professional the legislature) and the data are coded in 1000s of dollars.…”

Section: Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is it Better to Join the Majority? The Electoral Effects of Party Switching by Incumbent Southern State Legislators, 1972 to 2000

Grose¹

2004

ARP

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What are the electoral effects of a change in partisan affiliation for legislators? To answer this question, 6357 state legislative elections from 1972 to 2000 in five southern states are examined. By comparing this subset of party-switching southern legislators to their non-switching colleagues, I am able to examine (1) whether partisan affiliation and changes in party labels affect electoral outcomes over the short- and long-term; and (2) whether switching parties into the majority party in the legislature affects electoral out-comes. The findings are that incumbent legislators who switch parties do worse in general elections following their switch, especially in elections immediately following their switch. However, once these legislators have switched parties, if their party takes control of the legislature, they do no worse than their non-switching colleagues. Interestingly, other results demonstrate that southern legislators who have switched from Democrat to Republican in the 1990s have done worse following their switches, suggesting that partisan realignment among voters has not been realized completely at the state legislative level.

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Section: Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is it Better to Join the Majority? The Electoral Effects of Party Switching by Incumbent Southern State Legislators, 1972 to 2000

Grose¹

2004

ARP

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“…One study found that in 2004, 43 percent of the winning candidates faced either no competition from a major party or won by at least 40 percentage points (Abramowitz, Alexander, &Gunning, 2006). This finding at the congressional level is echoed by "vanishing marginals" in state elections, which shows that the incumbency advantage is an entrenched element in all levels of American politics (Weber, Tucker, &Brace, 1991). One understudied element of the incumbency advantage is that states and state parties impose legal barriers to candidate entry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ballot Access Rules and the Entry of Women Candidates in State Legislative Primaries

Mitchell¹

2014

JPPG

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This study uses a novel set of data from the National Institute for Money in State Politics to understand the impact that ballot access rules have on the emergence of women candidates the state legislative primary electionsfrom 2001-2010. Most studies examine the candidacy decisionof women by studying their individual motivations and ambitious, but ignore institutional arrangements which produce potential opportunity costs and organizational costs. The data in this study clearly show that ballot access rules like signature requirements and filing fees pose undue costs on women candidates and decrease their likelihood of running for state legislative office. A binary cross sectional time series model with fixed effects is used to test hypotheses across 49 states and over 37,000 primary races.

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“…By favoring incumbents, being more willing to assist secure candidates, and showing no partisan or ideological preferences, state PACs and the parent organizations they represent were clearly seeking to protect themselves in the upcoming legislative sessions. This strategy may be "primitive" and prevent a maxi mum return for the PAC's investment, as Jones and Borris (1985, 97) sug gest, but it also gives due recognition to the absence of competition for state legislative seats, as trends point to increased incumbency advantage and the disappearance of marginal districts (Garand 1991;Weber et al 1991). …”

Section: Campaign Financementioning

confidence: 99%

Political Action Committees in State Elections

King¹,

Robin²

1995

ARP

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While the number o f state PACs and their campaign contributions have increased substantially over the past decade, much remains unknown regarding their organization and activities. From a survey o f PACs in three states we develop a portrait o f political action committees, which extends beyond contributions. State PACs form around both economic and ideological issues; have very modest organizational structures; solicit funds primarily by direct mail and personal contacts; typically delegate responsibility for making campaign contributions to committees, which adopt accommodationist strategies; and have extended their activities to include voter education and mobilization. A number o f differences among the various types o f PACs are also evident.

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Vanishing Marginals in State Legislative Elections

Cited by 65 publications

References 10 publications

Is it Better to Join the Majority? The Electoral Effects of Party Switching by Incumbent Southern State Legislators, 1972 to 2000

Is it Better to Join the Majority? The Electoral Effects of Party Switching by Incumbent Southern State Legislators, 1972 to 2000

Ballot Access Rules and the Entry of Women Candidates in State Legislative Primaries

Political Action Committees in State Elections

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