Network Effects in Ethnoracial Descriptive Representation

• In Event: That Debate About the Link Between Substantive and Descriptive Representation

Abstract

For more than 20 years, there has been an increasing number of Asian Pacific American (APA) and Latino elected officials, especially in local elections. Though past research highlights the importance of co-ethnic voters on the election of descriptive representatives, space and geography remain under-utilized as factors that may also help explain patterns of descriptive representation. In this paper, I seek to fill this gap in the literature by using social network analysis to examine how ethnoracial minority candidate “hot spots,” or concentrated geographic areas that tend to elect ethnoracial minority candidates, may also explain the increasing trend of APA and Latino elected officials. My findings reveal that space, and more specifically, geographic proximity to descriptive representation “hot spots,” increase the likelihood of a municipality having more APA and Latino candidates over time. This, in turn, contributes to the pattern we see today for APA and Latino descriptive representation. In addition, I also shed light on other aggregate-level factors that are important for electing APA and Latino candidates.

Author

• Rhoanne Esteban, University of California, Santa Barbara