Working Class Hero? Legislator Economic Background & Representation in Congress

• In Event: Class and Political Elites

Abstract

Few groups are so poorly represented in Congress as members of the working class. Working class members of Congress are more supportive of bills that benefit the working class than are other members (Carnes 2012; 2013). Unexamined, however, is the extent to which these members may write legislation to advance policies that benefit the working class. We examine the extent to which legislators from the working class enhance the substantive representation of the working class by cosponsoring, introducing, and writing legislation that advances the interests of working class legislators. Specifically, we employ the typology and Policy Content Scores developed by Lauterbach (2021) to see whether such members are more likely to write bills addressing these issues and to include language in legislation that makes the policies they promulgate more likely to be followed by downstream actors like courts, bureaucrats and state officials.

Authors

• Erinn K Lauterbach, Villanova University

• Thomas J. Hayes, University of Connecticut

• Benjamin Bishin, University of California, Riverside