Minority Descriptive Representation at the Municipal Level

• In Event: Race and Representation

Abstract

A great deal of research on minority representation has examined the ways in which electoral arrangements, district demographics, voter preferences, and candidate characteristics influence minority descriptive and substantive representation. However, the majority of this research has examined minority representation by looking at the presence or the behaviors of elected officials at the state and federal level. Little attention has been paid to the dynamics that shape municipal level minority representation. The few studies that have examined local level representation remain limited due to data availability, coverage and reliance on survey data of municipal clerks. This paper aims to address these shortcomings. We rely on an original dataset of municipal level elected officials of the 500 largest U.S. cities, which includes data on mayors and city counselors as well as municipal level electoral and district characteristics, to examine the factors that shape local minority descriptive representation. We argue that city level minority representation is not only a function of the institutional arrangements in place but it is also influenced by political and electoral pressures. Our evidence suggests that the presence of minority and minority women elected officials at the municipal level is as much the result of institutional factors as it is shaped by local level ideology and political pressures.

Authors

• Ana Luisa Oaxaca Carrasco, University of California- Los Angeles

• Angela Ximena Ocampo, University of Michigan